Controversy erupted in the 2023 Indian Premier League clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday when the match was halted for many minutes due to unruly crowd behaviour during SRH's innings. It seemed the fans were angry at the umpire's decision to not call a no ball for height, and LSG's fielding coach Jonty Rhodes confirmed that the fans threw nuts and bolts at one of the side's players as retaliation to the decision.
Taking to his official Twitter account, Rhodes wrote, “Not at the dugout, but at the players. They hit Prerak Mankad on the head while he was fielding at long on. #noton.”
LSG pacer Avesh Khan had bowled what looked like a beamer to Abdul Samad and Akshay Totre -- the on-field umpire -- didn’t adjudge it a no ball. SRH called for a DRS but to their horror, third umpire Yeshwant Barde also ruled it in favour of the bowling team.
An angry Klaasen, then, spoke to the on-field umpires when suddenly, LSG's head coach Andy Flower and mentor Gautam Gambhir along with others in dug-out were seen pointing at the stands exactly behind their team area. It seemed as if someone from the crowd had thrown something; during the LSG members' animated conversation with the match officials, one could also hear collective chants of “Kohli Kohli” from the fans in their seeming bid to rile Gambhir up.
{{/usCountry}}An angry Klaasen, then, spoke to the on-field umpires when suddenly, LSG's head coach Andy Flower and mentor Gautam Gambhir along with others in dug-out were seen pointing at the stands exactly behind their team area. It seemed as if someone from the crowd had thrown something; during the LSG members' animated conversation with the match officials, one could also hear collective chants of “Kohli Kohli” from the fans in their seeming bid to rile Gambhir up.
{{/usCountry}}The chants were in reference to LSG mentor's bust up with former India captain Virat Kohli earlier this month.
In fact, SRH's Heinrich Klaasen didn't hide his displeasure at the crowd's antics, and stated that it severely impacted the side's momentum. “Disappointed with the crowd to be honest, that’s not what you want. That also broke the momentum, not great umpiring either,” Klaasen had said in the mid-match interview.
The Lucknow Super Giants eventually registered a cruising seven-wicket win over the Sunrisers in the game, keeping their chances for a playoff qualification alive. The SRH, meanwhile, are virtually knocked out of the tournament and require a win in all of their remaining games to keep their hopes alive for a playoff berth.