IPL cricket fell to farcical levels early in the game between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians at Uppal when Ishan Kishan walked off when hardly any of the opposition appealed for a caught-behind decision. He had indeed not touched the ball and even the umpire was initially not inclined to support the appeal.
The Powerplay saw some bizarre batting from the hosts in the face of some disciplined bowling, in conditions which provided just a hint of swing, but Kishan walking off without edging the ball takes the cake.
Deepak Chahar’s delivery swung down the legside and umpire Vinod Seshan was extending his arms to signal a wide when Kishan started to walk towards the dressing room. What ensued over the next few seconds was a comedy of errors.
Seeing the umpire preparing to call a wide, Ishan tried to get back into his crease, confusing Seshan further. He gestured to raise his right index finger more than twice, only to abort his move. When he did eventually gave Kishan out, the batsman sheepishly walked off without ever contemplating taking a review or even having a word with non-striker Abhishek Sharma.
WATCH: Ishan Kishan’s dismissal
Fairplay or facepalm? 🤯
Ishan Kishan walks… but UltraEdge says ‘not out!’ What just happened?!
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Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya, one of his close friends, came over to tap Kishan on his helmet as he made his way to the pavilion. Upholding the spirit of the game would have won him some fairplay points, if only he had indeed edged the ball. After a few deliveries had passed, when the snickometer was finally shown, it proved that the ball had made no contact with the bat at all. In fact, it had made no contact with any part of the batsman, and the umpire’s initial inclination to signal a wide was correct.
In the dressing room there was a shocked look on Kishan’s face and the episode was symptomatic of the brainless batting the SRH top order displayed. They were so inclined to hit the ball in the air, as if they saw no fielders at all. KL Rahul’s exploits against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday showed players are often more motivated to perform against their former franchise. Ishan, on the other hand, did his former team a big favour by offering his wicket basically for free.