Jos Buttler terms MS Dhoni’s argument with umpires ‘not right’ after Rajasthan Royals loss

The match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings was marred by an ugly confrontation between MS Dhoni and the umpires in the final over of the match. On the fourth ball of the innings, controversy erupted. Stokes bowled a slow, full toss which seemed over the waist and Mitchell Santner whacked it to wide long on for a couple. Initially, umpire Ulhas Gandhe raised the arm to signal a no-ball for height and the buzzers at the ground went off. However, the square leg umpire Bruce Oxenford over-ruled it. This infuriated Dhoni who charged onto the playing field and protested the decision. Dhoni pointed out that umpire Gandhe had raised the arm and it should be a no-ball but umpire Oxenford stated that he did not signal a no-ball. A heated argument ensued and few of the Rajasthan Royals players got involved.

The play was held up for some time but Chennai Super Kings managed to get over the line when Santner clubbed a six off the last ball as they won the game by four wickets off the last ball. Jos Buttler, who was involved in an earlier controversy regarding the Mankading incident which involved Ravichandran Ashwin during the clash against Kings XI Punjab earlier at the same venue, spoke about Dhoni’s behavior.

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“I was fielding at the boundary so I am not sure what had actually happened. I am not sure if that was the right thing to do. Obviously, tensions are running high in the IPL and every run counts and it was probably a big moment in the game, but whether stepping onto the pitch is quite right - I'd say, probably not,” Buttler said.

With this loss, Rajasthan Royals continued to remain in the seventh spot on the table but skipper Ajinkya Rahane credited the bowlers for putting up a tough fight. “Credit to our bowlers, on that wicket I thought 150 was low. We should have batted better, on that wicket, 170 would have been very good. We feel disappointed. I'm sure guys will take it on and learn from these mistakes. We have got to find the balance right depending on the conditions. I still feel you need to win crunch situations in the T20 format,” Rahane said, adding that the team needed to win the crunch situations.

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming defended Dhoni’s action, stating the skipper wanted clarity. “My understanding in discussing it with the captain was that we saw a no-ball called and there was confusion. Our understanding was that the umpire at the bowler's end called a no-ball and then there was confusion around whether there was no-ball or not. MS was after some clarity and it didn't seem to be coming, so he took the opportunity to go out and discuss with the umpires. That's how I saw it and that's how I discussed with him afterwards. I can't say whether it was right or not. What wasn't right was the confusion around the decision. It is above my pay grade early to go further than that,” Fleming said.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Chennai Super Kings remained on top of the table in IPL 2019.
• Rajasthan Royals remained in the seventh spot.
• MS Dhoni was fined 50 percent of his match fee for his confrontation with the umpire.