A shocking umpiring decision howler cost the Odisha cricket team their group-stage Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match against Tamil Nadu. Friday’s Group A encounter between the two east-coast teams could have- and should have- gone down to a nail-biting super-over. But a ridiculously incorrect boundary judgment from the umpires robbed Odisha and cricket fans of an entertaining finish to the game.
With just 3 balls remaining, Odisha needed to score 12-runs to retain their match-winning momentum from last night’s encounter against Goa. The batsman on-strike seemed to have all the motivation to achieve this result and played a fine shot through the covers to ease some of the building scoreboard pressure.
Umpires wrongly award 3-runs to what should have been a boundary
However, the Tamil Nadu fielder positioned at long-off also carried the same hunger to maintain his team’s good form. The player made a great dive to stop the ball from reaching the boundary and nearly pulled off a remarkable save. The umpiring committee, for one, seemed really impressed by his efforts, and awarded Odisha only 3-runs for the shot.
However, the live replays on-camera clearly showed the ball touching the boundary rope. By the time this was realized, it was already too late for the umpires to change their decision- if they were even aware of it in the first place. So not only were Odisha robbed of an extra run, but their in-form batsman was also taken off-strike for the next delivery.
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And as it turned out, the wrong decision had a direct bearing on the match’s result. Needing a six to win off the last ball, Odisha’s batsman on-strike could only settle for a four over deep backward-point. As a result, the dejected Odisha team and their fans had to watch in pure agony their team lose the game by a solitary run.
Coach Wasim Jaffer disappointed after loss in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy
Wasim Jaffer, who usually has quite a light-hearted side to showcase on social media, was very disappointed with the result. The former-Vidharba batsman, who is currently serving as the head coach of the Odisha team, made his disappointment known via a post on his Twitter account. It’s unfortunate that he had to delete the post later, but we’ve got you covered with a screenshot of what he uploaded.
Match Summary: TN 165/5 (B Aparajith 44*, N Jagdeesan 37, A Raut 2/25) beat Odisha 164/7 (S Senapati 67, A Raut 38, T Natarajan 2/38) by 1 run.