Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson’s controversial dismissal in the previous game against Delhi Capitals divided the fans in two groups. At the end, the third umpire Micheal Gough gave the decision in favor of the fielding team.
The incident took place on the fourth ball of the 15th over. Mukhesh Kumar’s short ball was thumped by Sanju Samson towards the long-on region, where the fielder Hope grabbed a juggling catch and look quite off-balanced. The India wicket-keeper batters started walking, but once he saw the replays on the giant screen, he made his return back to the middle.
However, as the third umpire gave him out, a disappointed Samson involved himself in a heated conversation with the two on-field umpires. Hope was close to the boundary rope, and despite a few wobbly movements kept the ball in his hand.
‘I felt Sanju Samson was out’- Wasim Jaffer
With the incident, Sanju Samson has been fined 30% of his match fees, given he breached the IPL Code of Conduct. Just like social media, a few former players too have been divided in various thoughts behind the dismissal.
Former India batter Navjot Singh Sidhu, on Star Sports, felt that Samson shouldn’t have been given out, as in his eyes, Hope touched the boundary line on two different occasions while holding the catch.
On the flip of the coin, another former India batter, Wasim Jaffer showed his disagreement towards Sidhu’s thoughts and backed the third umpire for the right decision. However, he felt that Gough should have taken a few more angles before ruling Sanju Samson out.
‘With the replays that we saw, I felt he was out. The foot didn’t tough the rope. There wasn’t conclusive evidence. There was an international umpire there.’ Jaffer narrated in ESPNcricinfo. ‘Shai Hope also said that, although obviously, the fielder will say that only. But overall, with how it looked, I felt that was out.’
Sanju Samson was batting terrifically by the time he was dismissed on 86 runs in 46 balls at a strike rate of close to 190 with eight boundaries and six sixes. The Royals finally fell short of 20 runs in their 222-run chase.
‘They should’ve taken more time. I’m surprised at how quickly they decided. It was a very important moment in the match.’ The veteran explained. ‘RR’s win depended on that. You could’ve looked at it with 2-3 more angles or a super slow-mo, too. I felt they took a decision in a hurry.’
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The Royals coach Kumar Sangakkara and the rest of the team too didn’t look delighted with the decision. While the Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal showed his emotions from the stands.
This is now the second consecutive loss for the Rajasthan Royals, as they retained their second position in the points table with eight wins in 11 games. Even though Shubman Dubey smashed 25 runs in 12 balls, Kuldeep Yadav’s four-run over in the 18th over of the innings killed the momentum.
