It can be hard enough to win a game in the IPL under normal circumstances. The opposition may put in a terrific batting display, a great bowling effort, or produce some inspired fielding. But when the umpires and match officials appear to conspire against a team as well, that makes it doubly difficult.
And that is certainly how the Punjab Kings (PBKS) must have felt after their match against the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2020.
The match was in the final over in Dubai, with Punjab chasing 158 and Chris Jordan and Mayank Agarwal at the crease. Jordan played a ball into the deep and set off, and decided to come back for the second run.
However, umpire Nitin Menon called Jordan one short for failing to make his ground at the non-striker’s end, even though television replays showed that he was well inside the lines.
Had it not been called a short run, Punjab believe that they would have won the match, as Agarwal hit the next ball for four. He fell to the penultimate ball of the over, and Jordan was caught off the last ball, which meant that the scores were tied. Delhi went on to win the match in the Super Over.
It was not as if Menon was a novice official after all. By the time that he stood in that match he had already umpired in three Test matches, 24 ODIs and 16 T20Is, and had just been elected to the ICC’s Elite Panel of Umpires.
Some claimed in mitigation that Menon may have been unsighted because umpires are told to stand either to the left or right of the line of the popping crease so as not to obscure the view of the television cameras placed outside the boundary.
However, the fact that Menon refused to refer the decision to the television umpires was rightly criticised: if technology is there, why not use it?
Punjab had cause to regret Menon’s decision and subsequent intransigence. They missed out on a playoffs spot by two points, which they would have got if they had won the match.