Ravichandran Ashwin, the all-rounder of Rajasthan Royals, has been penalized for his remarks about the inconsistent nature of umpiring decisions during the 2023 IPL tournament.
On Wednesday (April 12), during Rajasthan Royals’ exciting victory over Chennai Super Kings, Ashwin disagreed with some of the umpiring decisions. He was particularly puzzled by the change of the ball without any request from the bowling team, which led him to question the fairness of the decision.
Ashwin expressed his surprise and some level of displeasure with the umpires’ decision to change the ball for dew on their own. He stated, “I’m quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It’s never happened before and I’m quite surprised,” following Rajasthan’s win.
Ashwin further commented, “Some of the decisions on the field in this year’s IPL have left me a little flummoxed, to be honest. It left me flummoxed in a good or bad way because what you need is a little bit of balance.”
As a consequence of his remarks against the umpires, Ashwin has been fined 25% of his match fee and admitted to a level 1 Offence under Article 2.7 of IPL’s Code of Conduct.
Despite this incident, Ashwin has been performing excellently for the Royals this season, having taken 6 wickets and was named the player of the match in their victory over CSK. Rajasthan is presently leading the IPL 2023 table with 6 points after four games.