Sunrisers Hyderabad took on the Lucknow Super Giants in the 58th game of the tournament on Saturday afternoon. This was an exciting game of cricket that swung both ways, and both teams had their moments. But in the end, it was LSG that registered a comprehensive win by seven wickets.
Lucknow collected two important points to inch closer to a place in the playoffs. It was a complete disappointing day for the 2016 IPL winners, which also triggered the home fans at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
The moment came in the 19th over of the first innings, when Heinrich Klaasen and Abdul Samad were batting at the crease. The LSG pacer Avesh Khan bowled a waist high full toss, which took the inside edge of Samad’s bat and was given no-ball by the on-field umpire.
However, Lucknow took a review, and surprisingly, it ended in their favor as the third umpire overturned the decision, confirming that the batter was slightly crouched, which left both Samad and Klaasen shocked.
After the next ball, Klaasen was seen pointing towards the Lucknow dugout near the boundary line, and it was visible that he was not happy with the wrong no-ball call, and even the SRH fans in the stands got involved. Some fans also threw an unknown object at the LSG dugout.
As a result, LSG players and head coach Andy Flower had a word with the on-field umpires and stopped the game. As soon as there was a stoppage of play, the SRH fans started chanting “Kohli, Kohli,” and it was an ugly scene on the ground.
The chant of “Kohli” was for the incident that took place in Lucknow when the former RCB skipper was involved in a heated altercation with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and mentor Gautam Gambhir. After the first inning, Klaasen expressed his disappointment and said that the involvement of the crowd broke the momentum.
He also said that it wasn’t great umpiring either, which triggered everything. Batting first, SRH ended up at 182/6 in the first inning. LSG chases down the target in 19.2 overs to win the game. Marcus Stoinis (40), Prerak Mankad (64*) and Nicholas Pooran (44 off 13) were the stars with the bat. After the loss, SRH is virtually out of the tournament.