Masood reprieve reignites debate on use of spidercam

Melbourne: Shan Masood had a lot of luck going his way on way to a fighting half-century against India in the T20 World Cup Super 12 match at the MCG and on one such occasion, the Pakistani batter was rescued by the spidercam hovering over the field of play.

After Virat Kohli missed a regulation run out chance to dismiss Masood, the southpaw was caught in the deep by R Ashwin but replays showed the ball had bounced before the Indian spinner collected it in his palms.

Masood got another life in a bizarre fashion when he, beaten by Ashwin in the air, went for a big hit and the ball collided with the cable holding the spidercam. It could have been an easy catch in the deep for Kohli if the ball had not changed direction after coming in contact with the cable.

The incident once again reignited the debate on the use of spidercam, which has been in use in cricket for more than 10 years. It was first used in the rebel Indian Cricket League in 2007 before being used in the 2010 Indian Premier League.

The technology is also used regularly in ICC events.

The fans were quick to comment on the incident that happened during a high-pressure clash on Sunday .

"Just realised, how lucky was shan masood yesterday. Survived a runout, ash miscalculated the catch, spider cam came at his service. Damnn lucky!!" tweeted a fan.

To some of the followers, it was divine intervention.

"It's not the Spidercam it was the Qudrat ka Nizam who saved Shan Masood there," another Twitter user wrote.

In a nutshell, spidercam is a cable suspended camera system that allows cameras to move both vertically and horizontally over field of play.

Masood ended up with an unbeaten 52 off 42 balls that ensured Pakistan posted a fighting 159/8 after a shaky start.

The technology has been questioned many times in the past including an India-Australia Test in the 2014-2015 series. The Australian captain Steve Smith missed a catch as a camera cable allegedly came in his line of sight.