IND vs PAK: What do the laws say about Muneeba Ali's controversial run out at the 2025 Women's World Cup

Pakistan put India into bat and kept a leash on their scoring for the majority of their innings. Each of India's top eight went past 15, but none crossed 50 as they finished on 247. Pakistan's chase then began in eventful fashion.

On the last ball of the fourth over, Kranti Goud rapped one on Muneeba's pads. The on-field umpire turned down India's appeal as the ball drifted into the off-side. Deepti Sharma picked it up and had a shy at the batter's end, hitting the stumps, catching Muneeba off-guard, but seemingly with her bat grounded within the crease.

Also read: Five players to look out for in the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup

The call was referred to the TV umpire Kerrin Klaaste, who at first, adjudged Muneeba not out. However, she hadn't completely gone through with the replay initially.

After flashing Not Out on the big screen, Klaaste decided to have another look. This time, it was revealed that although Muneeba had grounded her bat for a moment, it had lifted back up when the ball hit the stumps. That made Klaaste reverse her decision and signal Out.

Natually, there was discontentment in the Pakistan camp, with skipper Fatima Sana having an animated discussion on the boundary line with fourth umpire Kim Cotton while Muneeba waited in the field of play. But the decision stood and she had to walk out.

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IND vs PAK: Was Muneeba Ali's run out call right?

Clause 30 of the Laws of Cricket deals with a batter being out of their ground. Specifically, 30.1.2 talks about when a batter would not be considered out of their ground.

"However, a batter shall not be considered to be out of her ground if, in running or diving towards her ground and beyond, and having grounded some part of her person or bat beyond the popping crease, there is subsequent loss of contact between the ground and any part of her person or bat, or between the bat and person."

In this instance, Muneeba was neither "running or diving towards her ground", which is why the loss of contact between the ground and her bat was considered to mean that she was out of her crease.

Mel Jones, on air when the incident happened, gave a similar explanation, citing clause 30.1.2. "She wasn't running. She wasn't diving. So because of that fact there - there's no running or diving - that is the reason she's been given out."

To add to the drama, replays also showed that Muneeba would have been given out lbw if India had reviewed the on-field call. They had already burnt a review with the very first ball of the innings and were perhaps reluctant to use another one up. As it turned out, they ended up wasting their second review as well in the 11th over.

At the time of writing, Pakistan were struggling in their chase at 47-3 fter 18 overs.