During Sunday’s match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, tensions flared between the teams and umpires. RCB batter Virat Kohli argued with the umpire and then KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir and head coach Chandrakant Pandit also had an animated discussion with the fourth umpire near the dugout in the death overs of RCB’s chase.
The incident occurred at the start of the 18th over of RCB’s chase. The visitors needed 31 runs in the final two overs with Dinesh Karthik at the crease. After speaking with the umpire, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer gestured toward the dugout, giving a signal that the home side was not being allowed of something.
Gambhir angrily charged towards the fourth umpire and argued fiercely before Pandit joined in. The commentators were initially confused about the discussion, but it soon became clear that KKR wanted Sunil Narine, who had finished bowling, off the field for the final two overs. They wanted a substitute fielder in the form of Rahmanullah Gurbaz as RCB threatened to chase down the imposing total.
However, the umpire quickly denied KKR the advantage, leaving Gambhir furious.
RCB were favourites with Dinesh Karthik at the crease. He smashed three boundaries and a six in his quickfire 18-ball 25. However, his dismissal before the final over was a big setback for the Bengaluru, as they still required 21 with tailenders Karn Sharma and Mohammed Siraj in the middle.
Karn hammered three sixes off Mitchell Starc’s over to bring the margin down to just three runs off two balls. Starc redeemed himself by taking a return catch to dismiss Karn for 20 off 7 balls, and Lockie Ferguson was run out on the final ball, leaving RCB 1 run short.
