On early day two of the final of the Ranji Trophy 2019/20, the cricket fans saw some rare pictures in the on-field umpiring. While KN Ananthapadmanabhan was playing the bowling-end umpire role in every over, Piyush Kakkar was standing only as of the square-leg umpire after replacing injured Chettithody Shamshuddin.
From Monday (9th March), Saurashtra and Bengal are playing the final of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. The official on-field umpires for this game were KN Ananthapadmanabhan and Chettithody Shamshuddin who started the game properly on the first day.
However, during that opening day, when Saurashtra lost a wicket, a Bengal player threw the ball towards the square-leg umpire Shamshuddin, who was unaware of that. As he didn’t follow the ball, it hit around the lower part of his body.
While the pain was increasing at the last night, Shamshuddin went to a local hospital on Tuesday (9th March) morning for a check-up. He remains unavailable for the on-field umpiring from the second day of the game.
In the absence of Shamshuddin, Ananthapadmanabhan started the day two of this final match along with the local umpire Piyush Kakkar. However, Ananthapadmanabhan had to play the role of the bowling-end umpire in every over. Meanwhile, Kakkar was only active at the square-leg position.
We wish umpire C Shamshuddin a speedy recovery. ??
He is not officiating on Day 2⃣ after being hit on the opening day of the @paytm #RanjiTrophy #Final.
Video ?https://t.co/Sc3ppBJPrC#SAUvBEN pic.twitter.com/v978SB9KvQ
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 10, 2020
From the beginning of the second session of the day, Sundaram Ravi has joined with Ananthapadmanabhan for the on-field umpiring. Ravi was originally appointed for the TV Umpire role. Meanwhile, Shamshuddin is handling the TV Umpire role for the day.
Yashwant Barde is going to replace Chettithody Shamshuddin
Shamshuddin has been advised to take rest for a week while Yashwant Barde will join as his replacement for the on-field umpiring role on Wednesday (10th March).
A spokesperson of Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) told PTI, “Shamshuddin felt more pain in the night and went to the hospital in the morning for a check-up. He has been advised a week’s rest.”
On the day one of this final match, Saurashtra cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara was suffering from fever and throat infection. He came to bat at late on that day but was retired hurt soon after spending around half-an-hour at the crease.
However, Pujara has not only returned to batting on the morning session of the second day, but he is also playing solid cricket with the bat as he has already crossed the 50 runs mark.