On Friday, India's Women's T20 World Cup 2024 opening match against New Zealand being played in Dubai sparked a significant issue. New Zealand won the toss in the Group A match and chose to bat first.
White Ferns openers Suzie Bates (27) and Georgia Plimmer (34) added 67 runs under 9 overs before getting out in succession. But after this wickets continued to fall, while captain Sophie Devine held one end up.
She scored a brilliant 57* with 7 fours to her name, while New Zealand made 160/4 in 20 overs. For India, Renuka Singh took 2 wickets, while Arundhati Reddy and Asha Sobhana picked one scalp each.
Meanwhile, there was a huge controversy that happened on the last ball of the 14th over bowled by Deepti Sharma. Amelia Kerr hit the ball towards long off for a single where Harmanpreet Kaur fielded the ball.
As Deepti Sharma was taking her hat from the umpire, assuming the over was called, Sophie Devine called Amelia Kerr for the second run. However, Harmanpreet’s throw to Richa Ghosh found Kerr short of the crease.
As the Indian team celebrated, Kerr began walking towards the dug out, but interestingly, the replays showed that the square leg umpire was not paying attention and was instead tying her shoelaces.
The fourth umpire stopped Kerr in the field while revealing to both parties that the ball was called a dead ball and hence Amelia Kerr was not out. This led to a heated discussion between Harmanpreet Kaur and the on-field umpires.
Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana, the India vice-captain also conversed with the fourth umpire, joined by Indian coach Amol Muzumdar on the sidelines.
India off-spinner R Ashwin took to X and shared his views on the same. He stated that the over was called before Devine called for the second run and asked whose fault it was and tagged his wife Prithi.
“The over was called before the start of the second run. Whose fault is this really? @prithinarayanan,” he posted on X.
On social media, a certain number of fans were furious about the poor level of umpiring, while several fans pointed out the ruling for the over being declared and Amelia Kerr being not out.
Here is what the fans thought:
