DRS debate rages on with MS Dhoni’s controversial LBW dismissal whether there was a faint edge or no in RTS.
DRS debate on the legitimacy of MS Dhoni’s lbw dismissal has dominated discourse since last night.
MS Dhoni’s dismissal from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in his first game back as captain sparked controversy after he was out leg before wicket to Sunil Narine against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
When Narine’s ball spun into the batter after pitching outside off and struck him on the front pad in front of the stumps, umpire Chris Gaffaney declared Dhoni out on the pitch. Vinod Seshan, the third umpire, took some time to make his decision after Dhoni reviewed it right away.
The ball passing the inside edge in the broadcast replays produced a murmur on UltraEdge, but there wasn’t a strong spike, which often denotes a thick edge. Seshan watched several split-screen replays, alternating between a square-leg and front-on view. After making sure there was no space between the bat and the pad, Seshan responded, “Yes, I’m satisfied.” It’s not a bat. The ball-tracking projection then showed the ball going on to hit leg stump, which meant the on-field decision was upheld.
Stephen Fleming, the head coach of CSK, took a calculated break following the dismissal, although Dhoni did not appear to be upset about the decision. Fleming usually leaves the game during timeouts, but this time he talked to umpire Gaffaney for a while.
“Listening to the directions of the DRS (third) umpire, he seemed very very under-confident,” former Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Sanjay Bangar said
“He wasn’t really sure because when he was wanting to see the ball at a particular time, he was saying ‘forward’ when he wanted to get it back. So clearly he was also under a little bit of indecisiveness, if that’s the right word. But there was something on the UltraEdge, it did pick up something.”