The match between Delhi and Rajasthan was marred by the no-ball controversy. With 36 needed of final over, Rovman Powell hit three sixes on the first three balls. The third ball was a high full toss which Rovman Powell dispatched into the stadium. The Delhi players wanted the delivery to be called a no-ball but the umpires denied.
They stood their ground and counted it as a legal delivery. Skipper Rishabh Pant signaled Powell and Kuldeep Yadav to come back to the dug-out. The umpires stopped the players and the drama continued. Jos Buttler and Pant also had an argument on the boundary line on the matter.
After a while, assistant coach Pravin Amre entered the field and argued with the umpires on the decision. At this stage, the Men in Red and Blue needed 18 runs off three balls. After the controversy, the team went on to lose the game by 15 runs. Meanwhile, former India cricketer Irfan Pathan and Bangalore all-rounder Glenn Maxwell took to Twitter and raised questions on the umpiring standards in the ongoing Indian T20 League 2022.
Pathan tweeted “That was a clear no ball.” On the other hand, Maxwell said that the third umpire checks whether a bowler has overstepped or not but don’t check the waist high full tosses which doesn’t make sense. “So umpires check no balls for front foot every ball, but can’t check a high full toss? Makes sense,” Glenn Maxwell tweeted.
That was a clear no ball. #umpiring
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 22, 2022
So umpires check no balls for front foot every ball, but can’t check a high full toss? Makes sense… pic.twitter.com/RUOX3Yh3YF
— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32) April 22, 2022
After the incident, the match referees imposed a 100 percent match fees fine on Rishabh Pant and Pravin Amre. Amre has also been banned from the next game. On the other hand, all-rounder Shardul Thakur has been fined 50 percent of the match fees. Meanwhile, Shane Watson said that players need to accept the umpiring decision irrespective of whether they agree with it or not.
“It was very disappointing what happened in that last over. Unfortunately, we were in that position in the game where we were not able to put things together long enough throughout that game. And look, in the end, what we at Delhi don’t stand for is what happened. The umpire’s decision whether it’s right or wrong, we have to accept. And someone running on the field is we can’t accept and well it’s not good enough,†said Shane Watson as quoted by CricBuzz.
