Pant fined, Amre gets one-game suspension

MUMBAI: The Delhi Capitals team management at the centre of the final over controversy on Friday against Rajasthan Royals was found guilty under IPL’s Code of Conduct rules.

Skipper Rishabh Pant, who sent assistant coach Pravin Amre on to the field to remonstrate with the umpires after a full toss was not deemed waist high and ruled a no-ball, was fined his full match fee. Amre was suspended for a game and docked his entire match fee. DC all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who was gesticulating to register his protest, was fined half his match fee.

Chasing a target of 223 at the Wankhede Stadium, DC needed 36 runs in the 20th over. Rovman Powell hit the first three deliveries of Obed McCoy for six, including the third, high full toss. If the umpires had called what appeared a marginal no-ball, DC would have had to get 18 runs in four balls, including a free-hit. Nitin Menon, the umpire at the bowler’s end, consulted square-leg official Nikhil Patwardhan before ruling that it was a fair delivery. “Everyone was frustrated that it (no-ball) was not even close, everyone in the ground saw that. The third umpire should have interfered and said it was a no-ball,” Pant said in his post-match comments.

The DC captain was unaware that rules don’t permit the umpire to review a waist high no-ball decision unless a wicket falls. The DC dugout missed the experience of head coach Ricky Ponting, in quarantine for being a Covid close contact. Assistant coach Shane Watson was seen trying to stop Pant’s protests but the skipper still sent Amre on to the field to confront the umpires. “It was very disappointing what happened in that last over,” Watson told reporters. “Unfortunately, we were in that position in the game where we were not able to put things together long enough throughout that game. And look, in the end, we at the Delhi Capitals don’t stand for what happened. The umpire’s decision, whether it’s right or wrong, we’ve to accept it. And

The Delhi Capitals protest of an umpiring decision in their loss against Rajasthan Royals has thrown IPL umpiring into focus again. A look at some past controversies:

someone running on to the field is... we can’t accept, and well, it’s not good enough.” Watson said the break played into the hands of Royals with McCoy getting “time to regroup”. The next delivery, fourth of the over, was a dot ball and RR won by 15 runs.

Amre’s is the second instance in IPL where someone has walked from the dugout on to the field to try and get the umpire to change his decision. In 2019, Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni walked in to confront the umpires after the

umpire reversed a waist-high no-ball call on getting a signal from the square-leg umpire. That was also a tense run chase against RR though CSK eventually won. Dhoni was fined 50 percent of his match fee.

The dramatic events on Friday also raised a debate over the rule book that disallows the umpires from taking the TV umpire’s help for such calls. “So, umpires check no-balls for front foot every ball, but can’t check a high full toss? Makes sense…” RCB’s Glenn Maxwell tweeted.

BCCI Delhi Capitals assistant coach Pravin Amre argues with umpire Nitin Menon after entering the field on Friday.