Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant feels the third umpire should have “interfered” to adjudicate on the no-ball non-call in the final over of Friday evening’s contest against Rajasthan Royals. He argued that the decision to stick with the on-field decision had proved “precious” for his team, which lost the match by 15 runs. The team’s assistant coach, Shane Watson, however, differed with his captain, saying the umpire’s decision had to be “accepted”, and distanced himself from the scenes that followed, which included Pant asking his batters – Rovman Powell and Kuldeep Yadav – to walk out.
It was the third delivery of the final over of Capitals’ chase of Royals’ 222, a hip-high full-toss from Obed McCoy, which Powell pulled for a six. Having started the over needing 36 runs, Powell had just hit three sixes in a row. The six was signalled, but the Capitals camp expected a no-ball for height too, which would have shaved a run off the target and given them a free-hit, leaving Powell to pull off a task similar to what MS Dhoni had done the night before. There was no signal, though, and drama ensued as both Powell and Kuldeep questioned the on-field umpires Nitin Menon and Nikhil Patwardhan.