IPL 2020: Sunil Gavaskar, Michael Slater, Kevin Pietersen react after Paul Reiffel’s wide controversy

On Tuesday, October 13, the match between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) was marred with a controversy at the fag end of the game. At the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, when the Sunrisers needed 25 runs off the last 11 balls, Shardul Thakur bowled a wide yorker and Rashid Khan failed to make a connection.

The ball seemed to have passed the tramline by quite a distance and umpire Paul Reiffel was about the stretch his arms to signal a ‘wide’. However, to the surprise of many, the veteran umpire refrained from the wide call. David Warner, the SRH captain, wasn’t a happy man by any means.

Experts opine on Paul Reiffel’s call

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, former Englishman Kevin Pietersen, and Michael Slater, the retired Australian batsman, also had their say on the matter.

“It looks like he’s checking upstairs, but I don’t know what he’s checking. It looked like his hands were coming out. That’s interesting … I don’t know,” Slater was quoted as saying.

“[They’re checking] if it might have touched the bat, but if it touched the bat, it would have been a catch. It went straight to Dhoni,” Gavaskar said.

“I’m almost dead certain that I saw his (Reiffel) arms start to go out. And there was a lot of shouting and screaming at him, and he sort of stopped his decision,” Pietersen mentioned.

Going by the laws, Reiffel wasn’t wrong as an umpire is allowed to change a decision if made promptly.

Section 2.12 of the IPL match playing condition says: “Umpire’s decision: An umpire may alter any decision provided that such alteration is made promptly. This apart, an umpire’s decision, once made, is final.”

The Sunrisers went on to lose the match by 20 runs and it was also their second loss on the trot after the one against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Dubai. In the same match, Rashid Khan’s dismissal also raised doubts.

Khan got out hit-wicket to Thakur while trying to go for a big shot down the ground. However, he was caught by Deepak Chahar. As per the laws, Khan should have been given out ‘caught’.