Imad Wasim sparks utter chaos with dubious DRS call in the league stage match against Trinbago Knight Riders.
Imad Wasim instigated controversy and chaos on a 10-minute DRS call that kept on fluctuating between out and not out.
Nigel Duguid, the third umpire, momentarily reversed the first not out ruling. But when Wasim was brought back to bat again, TKR captain Kieron Pollard and the on-field umpires Christopher Taylor and Patrick Gustard got into heated conversations.
On the second ball of the tenth over of the chase, the incident took place. Hassan Khan was dismissed for 36 runs in 20 balls by Sunil Narine. When Wasim attempted to defend his opening ball with an aggressive press in front of the stumps, the Falcons needed another 67 off 65.
The ball was pitched well by Narine, who was positioned close to the wicket, and hit Wasim’s pads just in front of the middle stump. Umpire Taylor first ruled the loud lbw appeal not out, and Narine asked Pollard to review the call. Ball-tracking revealed the ball striking the leg stump when Pollard did, which would have meant a golden duck for Wasim.
But Wasim appeared certain that he had edged the ball before it reached his pad. Before leaving, he was observed conversing with the umpires and even offered to evaluate TKR’s review after replays on the big screen revealed he had won. Along with the rest of the team, Falcons coach Curtly Ambrose was observing the replays in the dugout when he was observed making protest gestures from slightly outside the line against Wasim’s termination.
Seeing the inside edge, the umpire quickly reversed his judgement to call Pollard out. However, this only served to start a heated argument between Pollard and the two on-field umpires, during which TKR coach Phil Simmons signalled from the dugout. The TKR camp was obviously upset at the final decision, which resulted in a nearly 12-minute wait. Later, Wasim scored the winning runs.
A visibly upset Pollard kept things very short at the presentation. “If I speak, I’ll get into trouble,” he said about the Wasim incident. “So I better stay quiet on that.”
Falcons captain Chris Green was more expressive of the Wasim controversy.
“Chaos, absolute chaos,” Green said. “I don’t know what went on. He was given out when he shouldn’t have been. And then he stood over the rope and he probably shouldn’t have – but he was told to. Absolute chaos. I don’t know what happened, but this tournament continues to entertain in different ways… really happy with the win. We outplayed them in all facets of the game tonight, and we thoroughly deserve that win.”