Explained: Why the umpires were right to give ‘six’ despite fielder never touching ball and ground simultaneously in Asia Cup thriller

The ending of the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Asia Cup thriller threw up a Laws of Cricket puzzler, with six awarded despite the fielder in question never being contact with the ball and the ground at the same time.

The incident came with Bangladesh’s last-wicket pair at the crease, and 31 runs needed from the last 16 balls. No.8 Nasum Ahmed hit Maheesh Theekshana in the air down the ground, where Dushan Hemantha initially looked to have pulled off a brilliant piece of work, jumping and palming the ball back into the field.

However, after a long look at the replays, the TV umpire awarded six, much to the confusion of on-air commentators Roshan Abeysinghe and Dominic Cork.