There was disbelief all around the Chidambaram Stadium when third umpire Vinod Seshan asked on-field umpire Chirs Gaffaney to stay with his on-field decision of out, giving the marching orders to MS Dhoni. The crowd and CSK fans on social media expected the decision to be overturned when they showed a flicker on the Ultra Edge as the ball was close to Dhoni’s bat, but the third umpire, after taking a lot of time and seeing multiple replays, decided that there was no bat involved.
He put more emphasis on the left of the screen, suggesting a gap between the bat and the pad. Once he did that, Dhoni’s chances of survival became minimal. The Hawkeye confirmed that the ball pitched in line, the impact was in line, and it was also hitting the wickets.
It all transpired in the 16th over of the CSK innings. Dhoni had to take the long walk back after scoring just 1 off 4 balls, falling prey to Narine. Needless to say, the third umpire wasn’t the most popular man on social media, as the CSK fans demanded an explanation. And it came from former South Africa keeper-batter Mark Boucher.
Why third umpire gave Dhoni out despite a spike on UltraEdge
“When I was on-air, I was a bit surprised as to why the third umpire didn’t take the flicker of UltraEdge into account. It seemed pretty close to the bat,” Boucher said in the mid-innings show on JioStar. The former Mumbai Indians head coach said he was explained by the broadcasters when he went off-air.
“I was told that the third umpires have different parameters. What we see on the screen is just the flicker but the umpires take a look at a number of factors like the nature of the spike, how big is it or for how long and they do all of those tests before the match. So the third umpire actually knows how to differentiate between flickers,” Boucher said.
The flicker on the UltraEdge can occur for a number of reasons apart from the ball hitting the bat or pad. It can also catch the sound the batter’s spikes make when the foot moves.
Apart from the nature of the spike, what also went against Dhoni was the split screen view. While it was impossible to judge whether the ball had touched by looking at the pictures on the right, the visuals on the left indicated that there was probably a slight gap between the bat and the pad.
Dhoni stepped up to lead CSK after regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament with a fractured elbow. Dhoni has led CSK to five IPL titles and two Champions League titles and is amongst the world’s most successful captains.
KKR spinners Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali’s exceptional bowling performance restricted the five-time champions Chennai Super Kings to 103/9 in their 20 overs. It was CSK’s lowest score at home in the history of IPL.
KKR chased it down in 10.1 overs with 8 wickets in hand.