For a moment it felt as if Delhi Capitals’ cricketers had turned footballers as they surrounded and put relentless pressure on on-field umpires Nitin Menon and Nikhil Patwardhan to refer their decision to the third umpire.
Captain Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur and others in the DC dugout were convinced that Rajasthan Royals pacer Obed McCoy had bowled an above-the-waist full toss. When the umpires didn’t budge, Pant threatened to call back Rovman Powell (36 off 15 balls) and Kuldeep Yadav, who had yet to open his account a la gully cricket scenario.
While DC assistant coach Shane Watson had a chat with his skipper, Pant sent assistant coach Pravin Amre on the field to persuade the umpires to refer to the third umpire.
A screengrab of the controversial ball that Rovman Powell smashed for a six
From long-on, Jos Buttler, who had earlier struck his third century of the season, went to the DC dugout to speak to Pant, clearly unhappy with the ugly scenes panning out at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday night.
RR leggie Yuzvendra Chahal was seen indulging in banter with his India spin partner Kuldeep, but it didn’t have any impact on the situation. The controversy had already erupted!
The rule
There was no question of the on-field umpires referring their decision to the third umpire as it can be reviewed only if a wicket had fallen.
Shane Watson
Delhi Capitals did remarkably to come close (207-8) to Rajasthan Royals’ record 222-2 total despite no major contributions from their top guns apart from Buttler. DC eventually fell short by 15 runs.
“It is very disappointing what happened in that last over. In the end, the one thing at Delhi Capitals you don’t stand for is what happened. The umpires’ decision, whether it’s right or wrong, we have to accept it. Someone running onto the field we can’t accept. It’s not good enough,” Watson said at the post-match virtual press conference.
Powell looked on course to create history when he slammed three consecutive sixes off McCoy in the final over in which DC needed 36 to win.
The West Indian ensured the spectators, some of whom had dispersed after RR were almost ensured of a win, thanks to a wicket-maiden penultimate over from Prasidh Krishna, stayed at the ground.
Chants of ‘Rovman, Rovman’ turned into ‘cheater, cheater’ by the time the fourth ball off the final over was bowled. The umpire’s decision clearly did not go down well with the crowd.
It was a no-ball, asserts Pant
“Everyone on the ground saw it. I think the third umpire should have interfered and said that it was a no-ball, but I can’t change the rule myself,” Pant said at the post-match presentation.
Play was stopped for over five minutes. Upon resumption, McCoy delivered a dot ball, conceded two runs on the fifth ball and claimed Powell’s wicket on the final ball.
“There is no question when there is a big stoppage in play like that…it can change the momentum. It gave McCoy a little bit of time to regroup as well. That stoppage did play into Rajasthan Royals’ hands. It was an unfortunate stoppage,” Watson said.
The gesticulations did not end there as Pant, Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed were seen arguing with the umpires after the match too and reasoning with RR players.
‘Have to accept it’
When asked whether he supported Pant’s decision to call back the batters, Watson said: “In the end, you have to support the umpire’s decision, whether it is a good one or a not-so-good one. We just have to get on with the game and that’s the thing I was communicating at that moment. We were always taught that you have to accept the umpire’s decision and that’s what we should have done,” he said.
Pant too regretted sending Amre on the field: “Obviously, it wasn’t right, but what happened wasn’t also right. It was [in the] heat of the moment.”
That was probably, just like Friday night, late!
Pant, Thakur handed heavy fines; Amre gets one-match ban
Captain Rishabh Pant was on Saturday fined 100 per cent of his match fee, while assistant coach Pravin Amre was handed a one-match ban for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during Delhi Capitals’ 15-run loss to Rajasthan Royals. Besides the one-match ban, Amre was also fined his entire match fees, while DC pacer Shardul Thakur too has been penalised 50 per cent of his match-fees, IPL said in a release.
Pant admitted to the “Level 2 offence” under Article 2.7 of the IPL Code of Conduct and “accepted the sanction”.
Thakur also accepted the sanction. Amre too “admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.2 of the IPL Code of Conduct.”
