Follow UsIt was drama overloaded at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow as MASSIVE CONTROVERSY erupted in the clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). And unsurprisingly, at the center of the controversy was none other than Digvesh Rathi, who has already earned a reputation of being a ‘must-watch’ player due to his antics.
The controversy occurred in the 17th over of the chase, which was filled with incredible drama. First, on the very first ball of the over, Digvesh dismissed the set Jitesh Sharma, after the RCB stand-in captain hit a reverse-sweep straight to Ayush Badoni at point. However, seconds later, ecstasy turned into agony for LSG as the dreaded siren went up - Digvesh had bowled a backfoot no ball. Jitesh then hit the subsequent free-hit for a massive six.
However, the real controversy occurred just before the final ball of the 17th over.
As he strode out to complete his spell, Digvesh did the unthinkable - he mankaded the non-striker, Jitesh Sharma. The on-field umpire Michael Gough sent the call upstairs.
The third umpire Ulhas Gandhe inspected the decision, and ruled Jitesh not out as Digvesh’s arm had already crossed the perpendicular (he was through his action) before he aborted and disturbed the stumps. A botched mankad was a throwback to the clash between these two sides in IPL 2023 at Chinnaswamy, when Harshal Patel infamously botched an easy mankad to win RCB the game.
However, more drama unfolded as Pant withdrew the appeal while the third umpire was checking the decision. Pant signaled to the umpire that he was withdrawing the decision, and he and Jitesh hugged it out eventually.
RCB vs LSG never fails to deliver, does it?