New Delhi:
The final over of the match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings at the Sawai Mansingh stadium witnessed controversy with MS Dhoni being at the center of a storm. In 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.
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. While MS Dhoni became the first captain to win 100 matches in the IPL, the focus was on the way how Dhoni behaved. The criticism was also levelled at host broadcaster Star Sports and Murali Kartik for not asking tough questions. It seemed he was game about answering the tough questions. Kartik posed all banal questions when it seemed Dhoni was ready to answer questions. "You again took the game deep?" asked Karthik and Dhoni wittily replied: "By being there at the end do you mean having a conversation with the umpires?" There were no follow-up questions after that.
Here is a sample of some of the tweets which criticised Dhoni and the host broadcaster.
Captain Cool, my foot!
— Siddharth Jain (@iamsidthefreak) April 11, 2019
At the end of the day, @msdhoni proves that when there's money involved, nothing else matters.
Just think how the public would've-be reacted to the incident, if it involved any other IPL captain.#RRvCSK #VIVOIPL2019 pic.twitter.com/mhzfUm9LIS
Unedifying to see @msdhoni lose his cool the way he did in the last over, storming on to the field to demand a no-ball. Even if right in his assessment of the delivery, wrong to be so demonstrative IMO
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 11, 2019
When #CaptainCool Walking into the field 🔥
— Zabi Rudh (@ZabiRudh) April 11, 2019
Tough uh Tharano 😈
Aduku Avan dhaan Porandu Varano 😎🔥 @msdhoni @anirudhofficial @ChennaiIPL @IPL @imjadeja @ImRaina @harbhajan_singh @imShard @ChaharDeepak9 pic.twitter.com/dZz5knTssn
MS Dhoni willing to talk about his confrontation with the umpires, even joked about it first up. And Murali Kartik doesn't ask a single question about it! Most atrocious post-match presentation I've seen. How do you let a whole presentation go by without asking that? #RRvCSK
— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) April 11, 2019
No ball or not, WHAT ON EARTH IS MS Dhoni doing walking on to the field once he's dismissed. Bizarre this. Weak weak umpiring. #RRvCSK
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) April 11, 2019
While @msdhoni is right in saying what he is, he isn’t right in entering the ground and arguing his case.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 11, 2019
The umpire did signal a no ball.
In a statement released by the IPL, it said, “Dhoni was fined 50 percent of his match fees for breaching the VIVO Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team’s match against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur. Dhoni admitted to the Level 2 offence 2.20 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction.†Chennai Super Kings will next take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens on Sunday while Rajasthan Royals will square off against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday. Dhoni’s side is currently on top of the table while Rajasthan Royals are still second from bottom.
