Decision Review System in cricket: The curious case of Mahmudullah and the missing leg-byes

The author takes on the controversy around the reversal of Mahmudullah's LBW in the Men's T20 World Cup group match against South Africa last year, and outlines the jurisprudential inconsistency in the interaction of the rules regarding the Decision Review System in international cricket and the Laws of Cricket in their definition of 'dead ball'. The author views the contradictions through the lens of the Rules of Tennis, taking a comparative look at the application of the principle of hindrance in the contexts of Electronic Review in lawn tennis. In this course, the author suggests amendments to the Playing Conditions issued by the International Cricket Council with a view to harmonizing the DRS dead ball rule with the principal provision defining 'dead ball' in the Laws of Cricket and arriving at a more reasonable compromise between continuity in play and technological aid in decision-making by umpires.