Why were India awarded five penalty runs against the USA?

India were awarded five penalty runs at a crucial point of their run chase against the USA in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 game in New York. The USA side were found at offense of the new ICC rule, which states that the fielding side should be ready to bowl a new over within 60 seconds of finishing the previous one. If they fail to do this thrice in an innings, they are liable to be penalized five runs, which in this case, would be added to the score of the batting side. 

India were 76/3 after 15 overs while chasing 111 against the USA, needing 35 from 30 balls. The two on-field umpires had a chat at the start of the over post which the umpire Paul Reiffel informed the stand-in skipper Aaron Jones about five runs being added to India’s score. This brought the equation down to 30 off 30 balls, bringing the asking rate down to six.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) imposed the rule in men’s ODIs and T20Is to regulate the pace of play. It was trialed for six months between December 2023 and April 2024. Assessing a positive impact on the pace of play, the ICC made it a permanent feature for all white-ball international games between Full Member nations from June 1. It was also imposed on the ongoing T20 World Cup for all matches. 

The third umpire keeps track of the time taken by the fielding side to begin a new over through a stopwatch. Accounting for all the stoppages, he informs the on-field umpire, as it happened in this case. 

The Indian team cruised to their target after these five runs. Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube, razed off the remaining runs in the next 20 balls, taking the Men in Blue over the line with seven wickets and 10 balls to spare. 

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