Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 13 : Some of the umpires' decisions in the match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) has left spinner Ravichandran Ashwin "flummoxed".
According to the star spinner, umpires are taking inconsistent decisions, during the match they changed the ball before the bowlers asked them to do so.
"I'm quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It's never happened before and I'm quite surprised," after the match between CSK and RR, R Ashwin raised concern over umpiring in the post-match conference.
"Some of the decisions in this year's IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed, to be honest. It left me flummoxed in a good or bad way because what you need is a little bit of balance. We're going as a bowling team and we're not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpire's accord. What reason - I did ask the umpire but he said we can change it," he further added.
Chasing the feasible total of 176, Chennai was on 92 for three when Ashwin took the wicket of Shivam Dube. After Dube's dismissal, the umpires changed the ball.
Ashwin was persistent that there should be a standard umpiring, and if the ball was replaced due to dew then this parameter should be used in every single match of IPL.
"So I hope every time there's dew they can change it - every single time going forward in this IPL. You can do whatever you want but you need to be standard," the right arm off-spinner added.
"If, during play, the ball cannot be found or recovered or the umpires agree that it has become unfit for play through normal use, the umpires shall replace it with a ball which has had wear comparable with that which the previous ball had received before the need for its replacement. When the ball is replaced, the umpire shall inform the batters and the fielding captain."
Ashwin reacted on the performance of Sandeep in the last over. He said, "I really enjoy his commitment and attitude. He's someone who'll fight, doesn't get flustered. Even when we walked up to him at three balls seven [required], he was okay. He was relaxed. He had his own plan. He wanted to deliver what he could deliver at best."
Ashwin was impressed with the commitment of Sandeep and he was a little surprised that Sandeep opted for yorker balls against Dhoni as everyone knows Dhoni's hitting ability against yorkers.
"I feel going full to MS Dhoni at that stage is not the best option but any bowler would think that - you have 20 runs, you want to shut down two-three balls. Going forward it's a lesson learnt. But I think it was phenomenal from Sandeep, I really enjoyed the composure he showed," he added.
Though, this is not the first time that questions have been raised over the umpires' decisions.
Another spinner from Punjab Kings, all-rounder Sam Curran had registered his complaint in the match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. He was captured in camera having a discussion with umpires.
After the game, Curran said, "I found it a little bit strange how they changed their ball in the first innings when it was a little bit wet and I was trying to get our ball changed because it was like a soap."
"I don't really get how that works when they can change their ball and we can't, so we had to get on with it," Curran added.
The match between CSK and RR went to the last over. CSK needed 21 runs to win from last over. However, Sandeep's last two balls yorkers restricted CSK from crossing the chase by 3 runs. Even after Dhoni's dangerous unbeaten knock of 32 in 17 balls, CSK lost their second match of the tournament.
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