Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by three runs in a last-ball thriller on Wednesday (April 12). Ravichandran Ashwin played a significant role in RR’s win and was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ for his all-round performance. However, the 36-year-old spinner was more puzzled than happy after the win due to a decision taken by the umpires during the match.
Asked to bat first, Rajasthan posted a competitive total of 175/8 in their allotted 20 overs. While Jost Buttler scored a brilliant 52 off 36 deliveries for RR, Ashwin contributed 30 runs to the team’s total. On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande and Akash Singh all picked two wickets each for CSK.
In reply, CSK could manage to score just 172 for the loss of six wickets in their 20 overs and fell three runs short in the run chase. Yuzvendra Chahal and Ashwin bagged two scalps each for the Rajasthan-based side and played a handy role in RR’s close win at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Although Rajasthan won the game, Ashwin was more concerned about something else. In the post-match presentation, the Tamil Nadu-born cricketer expressed his surprise about the umpires’ decision to change the ball because of dew during the game.
“I’m quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It’s never happened before and I’m quite surprised. Some of the decisions in this year’s IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed to be honest. I mean, (it) left me flummoxed in a good or a bad way. It’s because I think what you need is a little bit of balance,” said Ashwin.
The India stalwart further added that his team didn’t ask for the ball to be changed and would want to see this happening in every single game of the IPL.
“As a bowling team, we are not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpires’ accord. I did ask the umpire and he said we can change it. So I just hope every time there is dew they can change it every single time going forward in this IPL that sort of, you can do whatever you want, but you just need to be in a standard going forward,” he added.
