The shortest format of cricket, the T20 games are always fast-paced wherein a high-voltage game of cricket is played in the shortest time possible. The 20 over game offers the cricketing fans some pulsating close finishes, great batting displays and incredible bowling spells. Earlier, cricket did not have the blessing of taking the help of technology. But with all the evolvement that we have seen in cricket over the years, technology has impacted the game so very well. The capability to deploy the DRS (Decision Review System) in cricket has helped the on-field umpires in making the right decisions. But there are always two sides to a coin. Where there is the good, the bad also gets seen! Similarly, there are times too when the onfield umpires have made big blunders, and have refrained from taking the help of technology. When these blunders were visualized with the help of technology, the erroneous umpiring system has been debated on many occasions.
So here we are focussing on the big blunders made by the on-field umpires in IPL history.
MI Vs RCB (2019):
This match that happened between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, had a nerve-wracking climax to it. MI managed to score 187 runs batting first, post which RCB needed to score 7 runs from the last ball of Lasith Malinga. Malinga stepped over the bowling crease, but the umpire did not figure this out. The match officials were S. Ravi and C.K. Nandan. With MI winning the match in the last ball, there were cheers all over for the MI team. However, the giant screen showed a sorry tale. The replay of the last ball clearly showed that Malinga had crossed the bowling line which meant that this was a no-ball. Unfortunately, since the umpired on duty went clueless, nothing could be done to alter the result!!
KXIP Vs DC (2020):
IPL 2020’s match between DC and KXIP, had DC batting first and scoring 157 runs. KXIP’s great batting display saw them needing 21 runs off the last 10 deliveries. At this juncture, Chris Jordan was called for a short run by Umpire Menon, which lessened the score of the Punjab team by one run. This match, unfortunately, ended in a tie, and in the Super Over, DC went on to win it. Ultimately, big-screen pictures showed that the short-run call by the umpire was wrong and that Jordan had completed the run.
CSK Vs RR (2019):
RR scored 151 runs batting first. CSK, courtesy of a brilliant batting display from Dhoni, and needed 18 runs off the last over. In the last over, Dhoni was bowled in the third ball. When new batsman Mitchell Santner took a strike, Ben Stokes welcomed him with a beamer. As soon as the ball was bowled, standing umpire Ulhas Gandhe signalled it as no-ball without even consulting with the square-leg umpire Bruce Oxenford. Within a matter of seconds, the decision was reversed. Dhoni immediately invaded the pitch with a temper and had a heated discussion with the umpires. Though CSK registered a win in this game, the error was made by the umpire.
KXIP Vs KKR (2018):
KKR batted first and in the last ball of the Powerplay, Andrew Tye bowled the ball, only for the umpires to call it a no-ball. As it came up on the big screen, everyone witnessed that the umpire had made an error. The on-field umpires for the game were C. Shamshuddin and Abhijit Deshmukh. Though this ball was not reflective of the bigger picture of win or loss, certainly, this was a case where the umpire erred.
MI Vs SRH (2017):
This game saw umpires failing to notice which batsman needs to be on strike. It so happened that David Warner, despite scoring a boundary of the last ball of the previous over, had again taken strike in the next over. The officials for the game were Nitin Menon and C.K. Nandan. The commentators were shocked when Warner was on strike again.
MI VS SRH (2021):
MI was chasing their target pretty well with a magnificently compiled 82 runs by Suryakumar Yadav. SRH bowler Jason Holder bowled the last over, in which the third ball was overhead wide which was left untouched by Yadav who was quite sure of it being called a wide. However, the umpire failed to spot it and made a blunder.
RCB Vs SRH (2022):
RCB was batting when in the last ball of the 11th over, Rajat Patidar took a single and should have taken the strike in the next over. However, it was Faf du Plessis who faced the ball. This was unnoticed by the umpires on the field. It was a debate on Twitter that attracted fans all over to understand more about this blunder.
RCB Vs PBKS (2021):
In the eight over of the RCB innings, Devdutt Padikkal tried to reverse-sweep Ravi Bishnoi’s delivery when the ball touched his gloves and was caught behind by the keeper. However, the umpire K Ananthapadmanabhan turned down the appeal. When KL Rahul took to the help of DRS, even when the clear spike was seen, the third umpire made a disastrous claim that he did not have the conclusive evidence to overturn the verdict given by the onfield umpire.
RCB Vs MI (2022):
RCB’s chase was going pretty well with Virat Kohli striking the ball well. However, Kohli was given out for a LBW decision, which left Kohli fuming. Even when a clear inside edge was visible on the Ultra Edge before the ball hit the pads, he was called out. Kohli was enraged and was seen hitting the bat on the ground with anger but to no result!! The damage was already made by the umpire!!
RCB Vs LSG (2022):
During the RCB vs LSG match, RCB pacer Josh Hazlewood managed to get away with a wide ball, which prompted an angry reaction from LSG batter Marcus Stoinis, who got bowled in the very next ball. Meanwhile, expressing his thoughts on the incident, the Indian cricketing legend took to his official Twitter handle and said such small bad decisions have a big impact on the games. “What is happening with the umpiring @IPL, it’s quite pathetic and small bad decisions lead to big outcomes! Wake up and put some people who actually can be a ref! (sic)”, wrote Srikkanth on Twitter.
Well, these were a few of the umpiring blunders we could incorporate in our writeup!! Certainly, the list is endless and we hope that the umpiring standards in Cricket, irrespective of the format and contest, get better!!