Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori believes Sanju Samson was mocking the umpire when he sought a DRS on a delivery that was deemed wide during the Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL 2022 match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday.

Despite claiming that the umpire made a few sound rulings on the night, Vettori claimed Samson should not be penalized since his displeasure was reasonable.

While speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Vettori also suggested that the decision-making system be expanded to allow captains to review wide calls.

“He was mocking the umpire, I don't think there was any thought of it actually being out. The player should be able to decide in these crucial matters. Today it always looked like KKR are going to win but we have sat here so many times and seen decisions go against bowlers that are so close and the umpires got it wrong. Players should have some avenue towards rectifying that mistake. That is why the DRS was brought in. I would like to see that happen. And players are very good judges of that. They get it right more often than not," said Vettori. 

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RR bowler Prasidh Krishna was obviously given a plan to bowl outside the off-stump to both KKR left-handers Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh in the penultimate over of KKR's chase.

Prasidh slipped a 144 kmph full delivery wide outside the off-stump in the third ball, and Rinku Singh failed to make contact. However, umpire Nitin Pandit ruled it a wide because the left-hander was in his typical hitting position. Needless to say, Samson was irritated by the call.

Krishna pitched it short and wide to Rinku, who shuffled across but failed to make contact after giving a boundary from the next thanks to Trent Boult's misfield at mid-off.

Surprisingly, umpire Pandit once again signaled wide. Samson, apparently angry, then requested a DRS despite the fact that Rinku's bat was nowhere near the ball.

Samson responded affirmatively to umpire Pandit's question about if he genuinely wanted to go for the DRS. RR lost the review after replays proved that there was a daylight difference between the bat and the ball.

“The umpire got it 50 percent of the time and Sanju Samson got it right 50 percent of the time. When it builds up like that you can see the frustration. The umpire made a couple of very good calls and I thought he missed a couple as well. That is the element of human nature that we have come to embrace in the game of cricket. It brings out the personality. Sanju was probably just frustrated. We are talking about a couple of inches here and there but I don't think he should be penalized in any way for venting that frustration. Likewise, I think the umpire did a pretty good job,” said Vettori. 

(ESPNCricinfo inputs)