There was “chaos”, controversy, and an unusual delay in the CPL match between Trinbago Knight Riders and Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in Port of Spain due to an LBW ruling against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons batter Imad Wasim, which oscillated between out and not out for more than ten minutes.
Before Wasim was brought back to continue batting, third umpire Nigel Duguid briefly reversed the first not out call. This led to impassioned conversations between TKR captain Kieron Pollard and the on-field umpires, Patrick Gustard and Christopher Taylor.
The incident took place immediately after Hassan Khan was dismissed for 36 off 20 balls by Sunil Narine on the second delivery of the tenth over of the chase. When Wasim attempted to defend his opening ball with a forward press in front of the stumps, Narine pitched the ball on good length from around the wicket, and it struck Wasim’s pads directly 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 hit it. 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 decision which ignited an animated chat between Pollard and the on-field umpires, during which TKR coach Phil Simmons signaled 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.
An upset Pollard gave limited thoughts on the matter stating, “If I speak, I’ll get into trouble.” “So I better stay quiet on that.”
The Falcons skipper Chris Green, however, was more outgoing with his thoughts on the entire scenario. “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.”
