What Change Has Mahela Jayawardene Called For Ahead In The IPL?

The recent contest, much before the action packed Gujarat Titans versus Sunrisers Hyderabad game of April 27, was a highly anticipated game and perhaps rightly so.

One felt that the now partly-famous, partly-controversial Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals game was one that perhaps offered a bright new scope to make space for a new change in the famous Indian Premier League, aka the IPL.

It was a game where the Delhi Capitals fans would think that they were wrongly rubbed and they have their reasons for saying so. At the same time, fans of Rajasthan Royals, eventual winners of the contest, wouldn’t think on those lines and would conclude that all went well despite the controversial end to the game.

Perhaps it may not be wrong to say that the no-ball that was not called after all with Delhi Capitals deeply engaged in what turned out to be an unsuccessful run chase (in the end) was the drama.

A drama that made DC captain Rishabh Pant angry, the Delhi Capitals dugout a nervous wreck and above all, the game that saw RR eventually usurp DC by 15 runs a highly polarising event.

The very fact that whether Obed McCoy delivered a no-ball or not was discussed umpeenth number of times and maybe still is somewhere in the cricket-obsessed social media circles.

What added to the thrill, before we dig into what Sri Lankan great Jayawardene has offered as an idea to enhance decision-making in the IPL, was Rovman Powell clubbing massive sixes against Obed McCoy.

What only amplified it further was the prospect of imagining whether Powell would’ve hammered another mighty six had the on field umpire signalled the delivery bowled by the West Indian (to another from the Caribbean) as a no-ball. It was clear that the delivery was bowled at around the waist height.

Resultantly, not calling it a no-ball meant that a legal delivery with barely any remaining in the over, had been counted and there was little that DC could do!

What followed just then was the emergence of a member from the Delhi capitals think-tank on the field. It was a desperate situation after all, one reckoned. But storming on to the wicket wasn’t the brightest thing to do. Watson noted the same. Maybe not Pant. And thus the cricketing world spun into a ‘what should have been’ and ‘what shouldn’t!’

But here’s what Mahela Jayawardene has noted and suggested so that better decision making and hence, sense can prevail (and needless drama be avoided):

“It is something going forward that I think we need to look at,” Jayawardena told Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.

“Is there an option for the third umpire to look at these things and inform the main umpires that it is a delivery that should be checked. It was disappointing to see that when you stop a game and have people come on to the field, but I honestly believe it was just emotions carrying over in the last over. A couple of sixes were hit and there was an opportunity that probably the umpires did get wrong.”

And that’s not all, the celebrated former Sri Lankan right hander would go on to add, “But the rules say you can’t go to the third umpire to check on those things. The spirit of the game and to see things moving forward, it is never an option for a player or a coach to come on to the field. We (coaches) have the ability to come on to the field during the strategic time out at the IPL and that should be the only time that coaches or anyone else should be allowed (on the field)!”