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Irate IPL umpire reported for kicking door: report
NEW DELHI, May 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – An Indian Premier League umpire has been
reported to the national body for allegedly kicking a door after an
altercation with Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli, a press
report said Tuesday.
Englishman Nigel Llong’s on-pitch argument with Kohli, who is also Indian
captain, was just the latest in a string of heated exchanges between players
and umpires in this edition of the T20 extravaganza.
Llong, 50, who is due to umpire the IPL final on Sunday, called out
Bangalore paceman Umesh Yadav for a no-ball in a May 4 match against
Sunrisers Hyderabad but replays suggested the bowler’s back foot was behind
the line.
Kohli and Yadav protested the call, made in the final over of the
Hyderabad innings, but Llong stood with his decision. Umpires withdrawing a
no-ball call is extremely rare.
Llong, who is on the International Cricket Council’s Elite Panel of
umpires, then vented his anger by kicking the door of the umpires’ room at
Bangalore’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, according to the Times of India
newspaper.
The newspaper said that Llong paid 5,500 rupees ($72) in compensation for
the damage but the state association has decided to report the incident to
the sport’s national body, the BCCI.
“It was an unfortunate incident. As a state association we are duty bound
to report it and we are writing to the CoA (Committee of Administrators),” a
state official was quoted as saying.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India was not immediately available
for comment.
Llong was also part of a controversial decision during Bangalore’s rained-
off match against Rajasthan Royals when the bowlers were allowed to bowl only
one over in the five-overs-a-side contest when a maximum of two is allowed.
The ugliest incident involving players and umpires this IPL involved
Chennai Super Kings skipper and former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
storming onto the pitch to confront Indian umpire Ulhas Gandhe over a no-ball
decision.
Gandhe signalled a no-ball for height, only for his Australian square-leg
colleague Bruce Oxenford to overrule. Dhoni, who had been bowled by Ben
Stokes the previous delivery, ran out of the dugout to argue with the
officials.
Dhoni, 37, due to lead Chennai against Mumbai Indians in the IPL’s first
effective semi-final later Tuesday — dubbed “El Clasico” of the IPL — was
docked 50 percent of his match fee.
This IPL also witnessed controversy on only the third day when
Ravichandran Ashwin’s “Mankad” run-out of England batsman Jos Buttler
triggered a worldwide debate on the spirit of cricket.
Ashwin, captain of Kings XI Punjab, stopped in his delivery stride to whip
off the bails while Buttler, for Rajasthan Royals, was backing up at the non-
striker’s end. While within the rules of cricket it is generally seen as
contravening the spirit.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1347 hrs