The Sunrisers Hyderabad-Kings XI Punjab clash in IPL 2020 on Thursday ended in a straightforward 69-run win for SRH, but there was a bizarre incident during the 14th over of the chase, when Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s dismissal descended into confusion.
The incident happened in the fifth delivery of the over, as KXIP struggled at 126-6 in their chase of 202. Mujeeb, the Afghanistan mystery spinner, was on strike as Khaleel Ahmed steamed in. Mujeeb brought his bat down in an attempt to keep out a fuller delivery, and there was an appeal for caught behind as the keeper caught the ball.
The umpire initially said no to the fielders’ appeals, with Mujeeb having seemingly hit the ground as the ball passed the bat, and David Warner, the SRH captain, deliberated over whether to review the decision. When he decided not to, the on-field umpire chose to refer it upstairs to the TV umpire himself. There was a degree of doubt also surrounding the bump ball, and the soft signal was that it was not out.
[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]
The TV umpire looked at the replays which clearly showed that it was not, in fact, a bump ball, but with it only being an umpire review, had no recourse to UltraEdge to check if the ball had hit the bat, and therefore had to decree it out. Mujeeb began his walk back. However, he stopped in his tracks and turned around to signal a review and the third umpire was once again called into action.
“Given he was charging off to the dressing room, who suggested he did that?” asked Mark Nicholas on commentary, to which Pommie Mbangwa replied, “Probably someone in the dressing room.”
“You got it, Pom,” said Nicholas.
The Bairstow effect. #IPL2020 | #SRH pic.twitter.com/tKraLIRvjh
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) October 8, 2020
This time, the umpire was free to employ Ultra Edge, and the replays suggested there was a noise as the ball passed bat, but only a minimal noise when the bat hit the ground. Once again, the giant screen flashed the message ‘OUT’ and Mujeeb had to walk back for second time, only now, KXIP were a review short.
In the larger scheme of things, it made little difference. In the next over, Rashid Khan had Nicholas Pooran and Mohammed Shami dismissed in consecutive delveries to knock the stuffing out of KXIP’s chase.
Punjab were all out for 132, as SRH won their third match in six games to sit third in the IPL 2020 points table.
