Avesh incident adds to SRH's grievance list

Lucknow Super Giants' win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday (April 5) evening came with a controversy attached, thanks to Avesh Khan. Sunrisers are not too happy with the way the game ended, as well as with a couple of other on-field decisions in their previous two games.

After Rishabh Pant hit a boundary off the penultimate ball of the Sunday's match, bowled by Jaydev Unadkat, Avesh, standing near the LSG dugout, struck the ball back into the ground with a bat. It is being claimed that the ball had not crossed the ropes, and a section of social media even argued that SRH should be awarded five penalty runs, with one user stating that the umpires should apply Law 20.1 (Dead Ball) and Law 41 (Unfair Play).

While it is a fact that it was inappropriate and even a bit amateurish of Avesh Khan to touch the ball before it crossed the boundary, there was no way it could be deemed an interruption to a fielder's attempt to stop the four. There was no fielder around, and the laws on unfair play cannot be applied.

Lucknow Super Giants needed only one run at that stage as the scores were level. An umpire familiar with the situation said there was no case for overturning the boundary in this instance. But there is chatter that Sunrisers may write to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over this episode and also a couple of other instances.

Sources say the franchise is unhappy with the way Heinrich Klaasen was given out, caught at the boundary-line by Phil Salt off Romario Shepherd in their opening match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Similarly, they are not too pleased with the way Abhishek Sharma was given out in their second match against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 2. It is understood that concerns have also been raised over Varun Chakravarthy's catch off Blessing Muzarabani at deep square leg.

Sunrisers have the consolation of having won their second game, but they had lost the March 29 match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Although neither the dismissals nor the results will be overturned, sources say the franchise is likely to knock on the doors of the BCCI if they have not already.