The 2020 IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad sparked controversy with MS Dhoni and on-pitch referee Paul Reiffel in the center of it. In the nineteenth over of SRH’s chase, Dhoni protested a wide ball call, which ultimately prevented referee Reiffel from making the decision.
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This is how it developed. Even though Sunrisers Hyderabad was six wickets behind, Rashid Khan was in the mood for big shots and was getting the Sunrisers closer to the target. Shardul Thakur was pitching the penultimate with SRH needing 27 of the last two. The first ball of the over was taken for 2 runs, and the next was a wide one.
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The next delivery, the second ball of the 19, was going off the line again, and although Rashid had moved a bit out of his box, it seemed that the decision was against Thakur.
However, just as referee Reiffel began to stretch his arms to signal a detour, CSK captain Dhoni seemed upset with the decision and looked angry. Dhoni seemed quite angry at Reiffel and began to protest even before the call was made. Eventually, Reiffel went against what he initially felt and decided not to turn it around. Reiffel lowered his arms looking at Dhoni’s reaction and then decided it was a fair delivery.
“It looks like it’s checking up, but I don’t know what it’s checking,” Slater said. “It looked like his hands were coming out. That’s interesting … I don’t know. “
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“[They’re checking] if he had touched the bat, but if he had touched the bat, it would have been a catch. He went directly to Dhoni, ”Gavaskar said.
“I’m pretty sure I saw his (Reiffel’s) arms start to come out,” Pietersen said. “And there was a lot of yelling and screaming, and it kind of stopped her decision.”
The decision was not well received by SRH, who seemed displeased with the call. Their captain, David Warner, was furious in the dugout because the ball wasn’t called wide. In the end, Sunrisers Hyderabad missed the target for 20 runs and Chennai Super Kings claimed their third win of the season.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Dhoni shows his displeasure at a referee’s decision. In a match against Rajasthan Royals last year, Dhoni lost his cool to referee Ulhas Gandhe, stormed onto the field and had a heated discussion with the field officials. During the final finale of CSK’s chase, Gandhe had tried to rule out a full waist pitch as if there was no ball from Ben Stokes, but reversed his decision when square-legged referee Bruce Oxenford failed to point it out.
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