Punjab have lodged an appeal with match referee Javagal Srinath after they deemed that an erroneous line call was made against them by the umpires in the 19th over of their opening match loss against Delhi in Indian T20 League 2020. The "short-run" call cost them the game on Sunday night, as per Punjab’s CEO Satish Menon.
"We have appealed to the match referee. While a human error can happen and we understand that, there is no room for human errors like these in a world-class tournament like the (Indian T20 League). This one could cost us a playoff berth. A loss of a game is a loss of a game. It is unfair. I hope the rules are reviewed so that there is no margin for human error," Menon told PTI.
It was umpire Nitin Menon's call for one-run short against Chris Jordan in the penultimate over of Punjab’s chase and Menon feels that the timely intervention of technology could have given his team the extra run and the subsequent win.
However, according to both the Indian T20 League and the International Cricket Council (ICC), umpires can only make use of the third umpire for possible dismissals and unclear boundary decisions, thereby making it impossible for on-field umpires to seek third umpire's inputs in such situations.
"We have appealed against the decision which could have been corrected had technology been brought into play," a senior Punjab official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"This one run could prove costly at the business end of the tournament when teams battle for a playoff berth."
Furthermore, third umpires can only get involved in a game when asked by an on-filed umpire if a player uses a DRS review. The only exception where a third umpire can get involved without the aforementioned scenarios is the no-ball calls, which was recently mandated for him to check every delivery for overstepping.
The short-run incident involving Jordan took place in the 19th over when he and Mayank Agarwal comfortably completed a couple of runs, which TV replays confirmed. However, on-field umpire Menon, who was stationed at square leg, deemed the first run to be one short.
More to follow...
Feature image courtesy: Twitter / Punjab
