We can guess by its name. The batter can hit the bowl without thinking of getting out on the free hit and can chase the maximum. Any team gets the free hit when the bowler delivers a no-ball, and it gets worse when the match is in crunch situations. A batter can get out by only run-out, and free-hit will continue till the bowler delivers the legal delivery. According to the World Cup schedule, India and Pakistan were playing against each other, and matches were in crunch situations, Md. Nawaz delivers a no-ball, which becomes the turning point of the match.

What is a Free Hit In the Cricket 

ICC has an interesting rule of the free hit in limited-over cricket means the team will get the free hit only in the ODI and T20 cricket. In test cricket, there is no rule of free-hit. 

When a bowler bowls a no-ball, the next delivery becomes the free hit, and the batter can chase to hit the maximum without fear of getting out. It becomes a great opportunity for the batter to hit the fours or six. Even if a batter will get bowled, lbw, or catch out, they will remain not out in case of a free hit, but batters can become run out. A batter has all the advantages of scoring runs.

What is the Rule of Free Hit

According to Law 21, if any bowler delivers a no-ball, the next delivery will be free-hit, and the on-field umpire will declare it. There could be many reasons for no-ball, and the umpire will decide it. Any delivery will be considered a no-ball if the bowler steps up from the line or the back foot not landed within the return crease or waist height.

Umpire can also call a ball-free hit when the wicket-keeper collects the ball before the stumps line or a fielder miss-match happens in the inner circle.

How Can A Team Get The Free Hit?

Whenever a bowler delivers a no-ball, the umpire awards the batting team with a free hit, and the next legal delivery will be a free hit. Batte can use free-hit for the maximum result without any fear.

If a bowler delivers a wide or no-ball on the free hit, it will continue till the legal delivery.

Fielding Restrictions on the Free Hit 

When a bowler delivers a no-ball, the next ball will be a free hit, and the fielding team can not change the field if the batter didn’t change the strike. If the batter crosses the field or rotates the strike, the fielding captain can change the field.

Feilding captains can only change the field if the strike is rotated, and if they don’t want to change can go ahead.

There is a slight advantage given to the fielding side, and the wicket-keeper can change their place according to the need.

Can Dismissals Happen on the Free-Hit? 

Generally, batsmen don’t get out if they get bowled, caught, and lbw, but there are few cases in which they can get out for free-hit.

If a batter will become run-out then they have to return to the pavilion and can also get on the obstructing field.

Read also: Duck In Cricket: Everything You Need to Know & Its Amazing History.

Impact of No-Ball In the Crunch Situation

A match was played between India and Pakistan in the T20 world cup 2022 according to the world cup schedule. 

India won the toss and elected to field first. Pakistani openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam came to bat but didn’t give their team a great start. Pakistani captain Babar Azam got out on the duck while Rizwan got out on 4, and they became the victim of Arshdeep Singh. Shan Masood and Iftikhar Ahmed took care of Pakistan’s innings and made a partnership of 76 runs. Md. Shami broke the partnership, and in the last over Shaheen Afridi contributed while other Pakistani batters couldn’t touch the double-digit mark. Arshdeep and Hardik Pandya share 3 wickets each for 22 runs and 30 runs respectively, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami share one wicket each for 22 and 25 runs respectively. Pakistan scored 159 runs for 9 wickets and gave a target of 160 runs.

In response, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul came to open. Once again, KL Rahul’s bad form continued, and got out in the second over on the Naseem Shah delivery. Rohit Sharma couldn’t hold on to the crease and got out on 4 runs on Haris Rauf’s delivery. Virat Kohli took care of the innings with Hardik Pandya. In the last over, India required 16 runs, and the ball was in Mohammad Nawaz’s hands. Hardik Pandya gave a catch to Babar Azam and returned to the pavilion with a score of 40. After the Hardik wicket, it was looking like a difficult chase, but Nawaz’s no-ball changed it all. He delivered the 4th delivery no-ball, Virat Kohli hit for the maximum, and the next ball became a free hit, and Virat got bowled on a free hit and took 3 runs. No-ball turned the table, and India won by 4 wickets.

Visit the CBTF website to follow the world cup schedule.