‘Incredibly frustrating’ – Chamari Athapaththu’s lbw leads to DRS debate over Hawkeye projection accuracy
A controversial ball-tracking projection in a WPL 2024 match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium has put Hawkeye under scrutiny.
In the last match of the Bengaluru leg of the 2024 Women’s Premier League, hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 198-3 and restricted UP Warriorz India to 175-8.
However, the UP chase was not without controversy. With some support from Kiran Navgire and Chamari Athapaththu, Alyssa Healy (55 in 38 balls) took them to 56-1 by the end of the powerplay.
Georgia Wareham came on to bowl her leg-breaks in the seventh over. Healy hit a six and ran a single to bring Athapaththu on strike for the third ball. She tried to sweep, missed the line, the Bangalore fielders appealed, and umpire Vrinda Rathi ruled not out.
Replays revealed that the ball had pitched in line with the leg stump. Since this was the leg-spinner’s stock ball, it should have turned further away and missed, or at beast clipped, the leg-stump for the left-handed Athapaththu.
Instead, Hawkeye showed that the ball would have turned the other way and gone on to hit the middle stump. Athapaththu was visibly surprised when she was ruled out.
The dismissal triggered a collapse as UP slid to 89-4, then 113-5, and eventually lost by 23 runs.
Commentator and former India cricketer Aakash Chopra questioned the Hawkeye graphic. “This is a leg-spin delivery. The ball pitches really close to the foot. Hawkeye’s projection takes it as a straight ball/googly…shows hitting the middle stump,” he pointed out, adding that he would “love to hear Hawkeye’s explanation for this.”
Chopra asked whether “more errors happen when the ball is pitching really close to the impact on the pads,” reminding that Joe Root’s controversial LBW dismissal in the Ranchi Test match was off a half-volley as well.
Watch the controversial moment that brought Hawkeye under scrutiny:
This is a leg-spin delivery. The ball pitches really close to the foot. Hawkeye’s projection takes it as a straight ball/googly…shows hitting the middle stump.
Would love to hear Hawkeye’s explanation for this. Do more errors happen when the ball is pitching really close to the… pic.twitter.com/BqVdekd3k0— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) March 5, 2024
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