RCB vs RR: Ravichandran Ashwin expresses displeasure over contentious 'wide' call, gets support from Harsha Bhogle

The Indian Premier League 2023 continues to entertain the fans on Sunday, April 23, as the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals went head-to-head against each other at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After being put in to bat first, RCB lost their standing-captain Virat Kohli on the very first ball of the innings as Trent Boult trapped him in front of the stumps. 

After losing Kohli and Shahbaz Ahmed early, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell got together at the crease and stitched a vital 127-run stand off just 67 balls. During their partnership, a contentious 'wide ball' by the umpire irked Ravichandran Ashwin during the 13^th over of the innings.

Notably, on the third ball of the over, Ashwin followed Maxwell who had moved towards the leg stump but the latter came back to his original position as the former released the ball, which went down the leg side. The umpire immediately signalled it to be a wide, however, Ashwin was unhappy with the call and asked captain Sanju Samson to review it.

The replays found that the ball didn’t brush Maxwell’s bat or pads on its way and hence the umpire stayed with the on-field call of wide. While the decision was being made, the off-spinner was seen arguing with the umpire and seemed annoyed with Maxwell shuffling all around.

Harsha Bhogle, on commentary, echoed Ashwin’s thoughts and said, “I think the bowler should be allowed to retire because Ravichandran Ashwin has been given a short boundary, a flat deck and a bowler [batter] who is standing four stumps outside leg-stump, and still being called a wide. Cruel is about as mild as you can put it.”

RCB finished their innings with a respectable total on the board against RR 

The off-spinner managed to get Glenn Maxwell’s wicket in his next over as the batter played a switch hit straight to the fielder stationed at the point region. He departed after scoring a sensational 77 off 44 balls smashing six fours and four sixes in his innings. Maxwell and du Plessis (62 off 39) set up a perfect platform for their side as RCB were 156/4 after 15 overs. 

However, the rest of the batters couldn’t finish the innings well as they could only get to 189/9 at the end of their 20 overs. Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma picked up two wickets each for Rajasthan.

In the second innings, RCB got off to a great start as Mohammed Siraj cleaned up Jos Buttler with a beautiful inswinger in the very first over. After his dismissal, Yashasvi Jaiswal (42* off 28) and Devdutt Padikkal (39 off 24) took their team to 81/1 after nine overs.