An umpiring howler during the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) match in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Saturday became a massive talking point on social media. Several fans, along with some former and current cricketers raised eyebrows on the ‘no-ball’ error.
The incident took place in the 10th over of SRH innings bowled by Isuru Udana. On the third delivery of the over, Udana bowled a high full toss to Kane Williamson and ideally, it should have been called a ‘no-ball’ as it was above waist height, but the square leg umpire wasn’t convinced.
Even the commentators were left surprised by the umpiring blunder. Kumar Sangakkara, who was on air during that over, expressed shock and said, “I’m not sure whether the rule has changed, that’s above waist height.”
Williamson went to the umpire and asked him why wasn’t it called a ‘no-ball’ and was clearly not happy with the response as he was seen shaking his head in disappointment.
Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh uploaded a short clip of the video and took a dig at the decision made by the on-field umpire. He wrote: “No this isn’t a no-ball.@IPL”.
No this isn’t a no ball 🙄🤣🤣🤣 @IPL pic.twitter.com/XcD4Gl0tT1
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 31, 2020
Yuvraj Singh, Jimmy Neesham, Jofra Archer reacted on the umpiring error
Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh was also amazed that it was given a no-ball as he too joined the bandwagon in criticising the umpire.
“I honestly can’t believe that was not given a no-ball! Like seriously !!!” tweeted Yuvraj.
I honestly can’t believe that was not given a no ball ! Like seriously !!!🤷♂️ #RCBvsSRH #IPL2020
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) October 31, 2020
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) all-rounder Jimmy Neesham, who is known for his epic responses on Twitter, didn’t waste time to drop his thoughts on the red-hot topic. The Kiwi cricketer fired some shots by asking whether no-balls are head high now.
“No balls are head high now???” Neesham tweeted.
No balls are head high now???
— Jimmy Neesham (@JimmyNeesh) October 31, 2020
Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Jofra Archer reacted on the decision by simply writing: “No ball???” on the micro-blogging website.
Noball ?
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) October 31, 2020
In the match, SRH defeated RCB by five wickets and kept their hopes alive to qualify for the playoffs.
