Picture Credit: X
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Women in Blue had a forgettable start to their Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign as they lost the opening match against New Zealand by 58 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, October 4. The match garnered a lot of attention after the controversial not out decision, which even led to the outburst from the Indian skipper.
However, Harmanpreet Kaur was not the only one, veteran Indian all-rounder, Ravichandra Ashwin also took to social media to express himself on the controversial instance. The big controversy came when batter, Amelia Kerr was declared not out on a run-out appeal, promoting the Indian skipper to get into a heated discussion with the on-field umpires.
Watch video of the controversial incident here:
R Ashwin question the controversial decision; deletes post later
The big moment came in the 14th over of the New Zealand Women innings. On the final delivery of the 14th over, which was bowled by Deepti Sharma. Kerr, who was on a strike, played over to long-off and went for a single. However, Harmanpreet, who was positioned at long-off region, thought it to be a dead ball, whereas Kerr decided to go for a second and was run-out before completing the double. Meanwhile, by that time, umpire had already signaled the end of play.
While India appealed for a run-out, the umpires decided that the ball was dead and the run-out was not valid. This incident went viral in no time and also grabbed the attention of veteran Indian all-rounder R Ashwin. The Indian spinner expressed concerns on this incident as he took to X to wrote, “The over was called before the start of the second run. Whose fault is this really? @prithinarayanan.” However, he was quick to pull this post down.
Although the incident led to massive chaos and unrest among the Indian camp as Head Coach, Amol Mazumdar also got involved in the conversation with the match officials, whilst a discussion also began in the 30-yeard circle. Meanwhile, Kerr’s stay was short lived thereafter as she departed on the second delivery of the next over with Pooja Vastrakar completing a simple catch.
