The umpiring standards in the previous few editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have come for sharp criticism. During the IPL 2019, we had seen the no-ball controversy in a match between MI and RCB, when RCB were robbed of a win when umpires forgot to check on a no-ball.
Even the ever calm MS Dhoni decided to have a spat with the umpires, in a match against RR last season, when the umpires reversed their decision to call a no-ball. The trend has continued in IPL 2020, as umpire Nitin Menon called a faulty short-run in crunch situation during the KXIP’s chase, which resulted in the match getting tied and DC prevailing the subsequent super over.
MS Dhoni was once again in action when CSK took on RR in Sharjah when the umpire gave Tom Curran caught behind off Chahar. Curran was walking back when umpires decided to stop him as they wanted to check if the catch was clean or not and replays showed that the ball bounced before settling into Dhoni’s gloves.
This led to them reversing their decision and Dhoni continued to argue with the umpires due to their late call of reviewing the catch, giving Curran a life. Even when Smith was dismissed, Dhoni was seen asking the umpire about the decision, who signaled that the catch was not clear.
While the Sharjah stadium was witnessing a calm Dhoni blowing off his lid, his wife Sakshi decided to tweet her take on the incident. She said technology should be used properly, and an out is out whether its a catch or LBW.
Dhoni’s frustrations were justified after Sanju Samson smashed 74 in 32 balls with 9 sixes. Steve Smith made 69 and Jofra Archer smoked 30 runs in the 20th over bowled by Lungi Ngidi, hitting four sixes and ending with 27* in 8 balls. RR ended up with 216/7 in 20 overs, while Chawla went for 55 runs, picking one wicket, Ngidi gave 56 runs for his one wicket and Sam Curran picked 3/33.
