(Reuters) – The United States became the first team to be penalised under the game’s stop-clock rules but coach Stuart Law said it did not play a part in his team’s seven-wicket loss to India at the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.
Using stop clocks to regulate the time taken between overs was made mandatory earlier this year in an effort to speed up over rates.
Fielding sides must start a new over within a minute of completing the previous one and a five-run penalty is imposed after a third such failure.
Chasing 111 for victory, India were 76-3 after 15 overs when they were awarded five runs in the low-scoring contest after the U.S. fell foul of the rule.
“We had a few warnings in earlier games, and it’s something we do talk about to get through faster between the overs,” Law told reporters.
“I think that we’re only a fledgling team. There’s plenty to learn. There’s not just the cricket aspect of the game of cricket, but there’s also the other intricacies that need to be embedded.”
The extra runs somewhat eased the pressure on Suryakumar Yadav and Shivam Dube, who then accelerated to guide India home, and into the Super Eight stage, with 10 balls to spare.
“I don’t think it affected the outcome of the game,” former Australia batter Law said.
“Five runs wasn’t going to affect the outcome of the game, so I don’t think it rattled them. No, I thought we stuck to our guns, we fought hard, we fought to the death.”
Tournament co-hosts U.S. pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far when they beat former champions Pakistan and are second in the group behind India.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
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