Was Sunil Narine out or not out? The wide ball incident explained

In the eighth over of the Kolkata Knight Riders innings during the IPL 2025 season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, KKR opener Sunil Narine hit the stumps but was not given out. This happened when RCB pacer Rasikh Salam bowled a wide ball.
On the fourth ball of the eighth over, Salam bowled from around the wicket and delivered a wide outside the off stump. Narine swung hard but missed the ball, and the umpire called it a wide. However, Narine’s toe accidentally hit the stumps, and one of the bails fell off. So, why wasn’t Narine given out in this situation?
Since the umpire already signalled it wide, the ball was not considered to be in the in play, ruling out Narine’s hit-wicket dismissal.
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What does the rule say?
According to the MCC rule 35.1.1, a batsman is out hit-wicket if, after the bowler starts their delivery stride and while the ball is in play, the batsman’s wicket is broken their bat or body. However, since the ball was declared wide, it was not in play, so the hit-wicket rule didn’t apply.
Narine was eventually dismissed for 44 runs Salam in the 10th over. He had earlier built a strong partnership of 103 runs for the second wicket with captain Ajinkya Rahane.