Was Rishabh Pant right in calling back his batters?

Rishabh Pant’s faced scrutiny and was put under the scanner after he tried calling back his team’s batters against Rajasthan Royals after the on-field umpire refused to declare RR pacer Obed McCoy’s delivery as a no-ball for height.

It became an even bigger issue when Pant sent assistant coach Pravin Amre on the field to question the umpires on the controversial decision. The match brought all the entertainment, tension, and drama into the scene on Friday night. But Pant losing his cool and calling back the players in order to stop the game mid-way was unacceptable behaviour on his end.

There have been instances where the umpires give out a decision, which is not in favour of either of the parties, but displaying such an attitude on the field only demeans the game as well as the officials. The player can not question the match officials or their decisions and has to abide by them.

During the post-match presentation, Pant criticized the verdict of the umpires and stood strong on his point of view. The Delhi skipper had to face the consequences as he was fined 100% of his match fees, while Amre was handed a one-match ban for breaching the code of conduct.

DC was chasing a huge target of 223 runs after RR posted the highest total of IPL 2022. They were given a ray of hope by their middle-order batter Rovman Powell when he hit three sixes on the first three balls of the last over when DC required 36 runs in six balls to win. On the third ball, Powell hammered the third six in a row, but his partner on the non-striker’s end felt it was a no-ball and they appealed to the umpire to check.

Nitin Menon, the umpire standing at the bowling end, was of the opposite view and declared it a legal delivery. After the game was paused for a brief moment, Powell lost his momentum and was unable to strike on the remaining three balls of the game as RR successfully defended their score.