Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest franchise-based T20 tournament in the world. However, the 12th season of the IPL has seen some controversy in the infancy stage of the tournament. After the Mankading controversy, the umpiring standards are the subject of a new scandal.
The RCB v MI match saw the Indian umpiring duo of S. Ravi and C. Nandan failing to meet the standards, which in the end, cost the home side the match.
The home team RCB required 7 runs off the last ball of the innings to win. At such an important stage MI’s Lasith Malinga overstepped and umpire S. Ravi missed the call, costing RCB the match as they lost by 6 runs. If the ball had been called a no-ball, and with a set AB de Villiers and explosive striker Shivam Dube at the crease, a free hit would have given RCB a good chance of winning the game.
Not only this, A senior STAR official told IANS that the umpire wasn't even looking at the landing point of the bowler's front foot.
"Having gone through the slow-motion replay of the match feed, I can tell you for certain that Ravi wasn't even looking at the front foot of the bowler. He was already looking at the batsman," the official said.
When asked to comment on this blunder by IANS, a senior BCCI executive said: “The old habit of first looking at the bowler’s foot at the point of delivery and then looking at the batsman is being ignored by most of the Indian umpires these days. They just look at the line where the ball is pitching and take it from there. If a batsman is dismissed, they go up to the third umpire and check for the no-ball. It won’t be too surprising if Ravi loses out on matches in the playoffs. ”
"Team IPL has noted the matter and this will definitely be taken into consideration when the evaluation is done at the end of the group phase. It won't be too surprising if Ravi loses out on matches in the playoffs," the BCCI functionary said.
Skippers of both RCB and MI, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma made their displeasures known in the post-match presentation ceremony.
(Source: India TV)
