It all transpired in the penultimate over of KKR’s chase when the Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer, Prasidh Krishna was aiming to deliver wide of off-stump to both KKR left-handers Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh. In the third ball, Prasidh bowled a wide delivery outside the off-stump and Rinku Singh failed to make contact. But because the left-hander was in his normal striking position when the ball was delivered, umpire Nitin Pandit adjudged it as a wide. Needless to say, the call did not please the RR skipper, Sanju Samson.
After conceding a boundary from the previous ball due to a misfield at mid-off from Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna decided to bowl a wide delivery to Rinku, who shuffled across but failed to make contact. Surprisingly, umpire Pandit signaled wide again. A visibly annoyed Samson then did something very unexpected and it triggered a debate.
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The RR skipper went for a DRS despite knowing very well that Rinku Singh’s bat was nowhere near the ball. Umpire Pandit asked Samson again whether he really wanted to go for the DRS and Samson gave a positive response. Replays confirmed that there was a daylight difference between the bat and ball, RR lost a review.
Getting a wicket, however, was never on Sanju Samson’s mind as the replays also conveyed that the wide call was a harsh one as Rinku had shuffled across his stumps and could have made contact with the ball easily.
Here are the videos of the incident:
Gamechanger of the match and
Player of the match is Umpire today for Kkr#umpiring #umpire #nitinmenon #TATAIPL #RRvKKR #SanjuSamson #KKRvRR #IPL2022 #umpire @rajasthanroyals @IrfanPathan @bhogleharsha @IamSanjuSamson @ashwinravi99 @yuzi_chahal @MohammadKaif @cricketaakash pic.twitter.com/lGufnKbj84— Gajjewar Krishna (@GajjewarKrishna) May 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/ravirana8800/status/1521186853495316480?s=20&t=MmpAaxyT4_zvISI0_nGagA
https://twitter.com/VaishnaviS45/status/1521190310491336704?s=20&t=a8nVta-Nn1IVk8PVffZ3oQ
The drama did not end there. In the last ball of the same over, Krishna was bowling to Nitish Rana, and it went wide again. The KKR left-hander walked across his stumps but missed the ball. Umpire Pandit adjudged it as wide again. This time the umpire was perhaps right in his call as Krishna’s delivery was even beyond the white return crease and nearly out of the playing area. But Samson had a word with the umpire and the latter was seen explaining the rationale behind his wide calls to the RR skipper and wicket-keeper.
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KKR won the match with a six with 5 balls to spare. Rinku Singh played decisive innings of 42 not out off 23 balls and Rana remained unbeaten on 48 off 37 as KKR chased down RR’s 153-run target with 7 wickets in the bank to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Talking about the match, Sanju Samson said, “The wicket was a bit slow, but they also bowled really well but with the kind of batting we had, would have liked a few more boundaries at the end and finish off a bit better. I think we were short by 15-20 runs.”
