Lucknow Supergiants’ spectacular victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Saturday put an end to the spectators’ woes. As soon as some decisions went against SRH on the field, the fans went rogue and started hurling objects on the field, forcing the match to be stopped for a brief interval. After a report claimed that nuts and bolts were thrown at the LSG dugout by fans, the franchise’s fielding coach Jonty Rhodes revealed that an object hit his player Prerak Mankad on the head.
Responding to the report, Rhodes wrote on Twitter, “Not in the dugout, but on the players.
Not on the dugout, but on the players. Prerna Mankad was fielding at long on when the ball hit his head. #but not https://t.co/4yxmuXh7ZF
— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) May 13, 2023
The controversy started when on the third ball of the 19th over, the third umpire decided to give SRH’s Abdul Samad a waist-deep no-ball against LSG’s Avesh Khan.
Initially, the on-field umpire deemed it a no-ball but, the LSG decided to review the decision. The matter went to the third umpire and he decided to overturn the initial decision which angered the fans as well as SRH batsman Heinrich Klaasen. The South African batsman animatedly went up to the umpire to protest the decision.
As everyone on the field started making decisions, the LSG members were seen pointing towards the crowd. The actual incident that incited the fans has not been revealed, but reports emerged that fans threw nuts and bolts at the LSG dugout.
Play was stopped and there are reports that the on-field umpire had to run to the dugout and try to calm things down. Andy Flower was also seen talking to the umpire. Things started to get ugly as de Kock and Klaasen, the two South Africans were chatting.
During the mid-inning interview, Klaasen shared his frustration with the decision as well as the way the crowd reacted to the decision.
“To be honest, I am disappointed with the crowd, you don’t want that,” Klaasen said after the first innings.
with ANI inputs
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