IPL 2020: Did MS Dhoni influence the umpire’s decision?

Last updated on February 17th, 2023 at 12:59 pm

Since the beginning of this year’s Indian Premier League(IPL), former Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been under severe scrutiny. It was one such day when Dhoni’s act came under radar but this time it had nothing to do with his game.

On Tuesday, the Chennai Super Kings registered a 20 -run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad but what caught people’s attention was a decision made by the on-ground umpire, Paul Reiffel, when he changed his decision of calling wide for a delivery to nothing. The delivery was bowled by Shardul Thakur to Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan and it was outside the off-stump. The call by the umpire should have been to call out wide but Dhoni animatedly appealed against the decision even before it was made.

The umpire changed his decision and for many cricket fans, it seemed as though Dhoni had bullied the umpire into making a certain call. The bowl was counted as a legitimate delivery and during an important over for the David Warner-led team who lost while chasing 168.

Even the commentator at the moment, Ion Bishop, pointed out the mistake that the umpire had made. He said that even though he is sympathetic towards umpire’s but this time Reiffel did make a mistake. “He started calling wide, he looked up , saw Dhoni and changed his mind.”

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Cricket fans also started calling out this moment saying that it is a ‘mockery of the game’. One of them said that Dhoni keeps getting away with it even after bullying umpires while another person questioned if this kind of bullying was allowed? But it is to be considered that in matches and formats other than IPL also, appealing for or against a delivery is allowed. A wicket-keeper is generally the first one to make that appeal because of the angle factor. Some of the fans even argued that just because this animated reaction was very unlike Dhoni, people are questioning him but if there was another cricketer doing the same thing, there wouldn’t be a problem.