CSK wins the match against SRH but Dhoni's apparent gesture becomes a questionable act for netizens; wrong judgement say, experts.
Nothing goes unnoticed in the eyes of netizens! Post the smooth win by 20 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Tuesday, skipper and caption MS Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is now a 'bully' according to the people of social media. This comes after an incident that occurred during the match when ground Umpire Paul Reiffel was about to declare a 'wide ball' but MS's alleged animated reaction led to a change in decision.
The match between CSK and SRH at Dubai International Stadium was a solace for all the Chennai-supporters as the former got to their winning ways after a brief period. CSK made a tough 167/6 which SRH fell short of 20 runs to achieve the target.
The incident happened during the 19th overs of SRH's inning when batsman Rashid Khan was bowled outside the off stump (off-side) by CSK's Shardul Thakur. The yorker by Thakur to Khan was guessed a 'wide ball' as Reiffel outstretched both his arms at shoulder height to signal the same. However, the moment he saw Dhoni's alleged reaction, he stopped the initial 'wide' decision midway. Reiffel, an Australian former cricketer who played in 35 Tests and 92 One-day Internationals from 1332 to 1992, is yet to comment on this incident. Post-retirement Reiffel became a first-class cricket empire and is a member of Elite Panell of International Cricket Council (ICC) Umpires.
The commentators speculated this incident to be a mere 'wrong judgement' on the part of Reiffel. Meanwhile, as per some netizens, MS 'intimidated' Reiffel into giving the delivery a 'wide'.
Former England player and cricket commentator said, "I’m almost dead certain that I saw his arms start to go out. And there was a lot of shouting and screaming at him, and he sort of stopped his decision.” However, many people came in support of MS saying 'it was normal' for MS to react that way. One of the user said, "Fake news about MSD forcing wide. The fact is that shot was played on that ball on off side, despite bat touching the ball, the umpire was gonna call it a wide. So Dhoni saved him!"
While another twitter user said, "Such a mockery of game, pathetic! Dhoni keeps bullying umpires and gets away with it. I have just lost count of it."
Ian Bishop, former West Indies player and commentator at ESPNcricinfo said, "It was a wide, it should have been called a wide. He
Here are some of the mixed reactions:
M.S Dhoni bullied the umpire to take back the wide signal he was about to give. Where is the spirit of cricket @msdhoni? #IPL2020
— Lokesh #MI 🛡️ (@Aryalokesh05) October 13, 2020
Seeing a lot of people having a go at Dhoni for this. Dhoni is the fielding side captain/keeper, he is entitled to protest a call, even if he is wrong, like in this case. The onus is on the umpire to stand firm by his decision. https://t.co/k77kmaaIay
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) October 13, 2020
*MS Dhoni stares angrily at the umpire after Thakur bowls wide*
— Saahil Rahman (@Bihar_se_he) October 14, 2020
Umpire: pic.twitter.com/On8AsRHxaQ
The fault is the umpire’s only. If you are intimidated by MS Dhoni that’s your problem. MS Dhoni had the right to express his disappointment though it was a wide. We’ve seen all players do it. That’s just piss poor umpiring & the umpire needs to be fined.
— Pradhyoth (@Pradhyoth1) October 13, 2020
It is the power of dhoni. He can do whatever he want in the field. He has the superpower whereby he can change the umpire's decision. Umpires will have to whatever he wants. Still dhoni fans will be call honest dhoni NOW WHERE IS THE RULES @BCCI @msdhoni @SGanguly99 @IPL pic.twitter.com/hc1QYgZXta
— Shaurya Prakash Singh (@ShauryaPrakas13) October 13, 2020
That was not cricket from @msdhoni ,you can't put pressure on the umpire like that and also umpire should have gone with his decision,dhoni is not bigger than the game of cricket. Last yr he came from outside to force the umpire to give it no ball,now forced to not give it a wide
— Hemant Gulia (@HemantGulia) October 13, 2020
@msdhoni That's cheating
— Rohit Patil (@rht_philosopher) October 13, 2020
Not allowing an Umpire to call a Wide 🙄
Fake news on @TwitterIndia about MSD forcing wide. The fact is that shot was played on that ball on off side, despite bat touching the ball, the umpire was gonna call it a wide. So Dhoni saved him! @msdhoni #FakeNews
— Akash Sharma (@Heterodoxxe) October 13, 2020
The fault is the umpire’s only. If you are intimidated by MS Dhoni that’s your problem. MS Dhoni had the right to express his disappointment though it was a wide. We’ve seen all players do it. That’s just piss poor umpiring & the umpire needs to be fined.
— Saurabh kumar (Kanha) (@Saurabh18379725) October 13, 2020
Let us know what you think about this?