Former India cricketers Virender Sehwag and Navjot Singh Sidhu had contrasting views on Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Ishan Kishan's bizarre dismissal in the match against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Sunrisers suffered their sixth defeat in the season, from eight games, to remain at the nith spot in the table.
The incident happened on the first ball of the third over during Sunrisers' innings when Ishan attempted to glance a leg-side length delivery from Deepak Chahar, failed to make proper contact and then walked off the ground despite no appeal from any of the Mumbai Indians. Wicketkeeper Ryan Rickelton, who comfortably collected the ball behind, was not sure about whether to appeal for caught behind, while Chahar and captain Hardik Pandya seemed more worried about the umpire first signalling the delivery as a wide ball.
In fact, the visuals rather indicated that the umpire Vinod Seshan himself was confused about the delivery. He had initially called it a wide, but instantly changed his mind and raised his finger after seeing Ishan walk off.
The SRH batter received a pat on the back from Hardik for showing the 'spirit of cricket', but his act backfired after a replay showed no spike on the Ultra Edge. Ishan, who was dismissed for just one off 4, was seen cursing himself in the dressing room after watching the video.
What did Sidhu and Sehwag say?
{{/usCountry}}The SRH batter received a pat on the back from Hardik for showing the 'spirit of cricket', but his act backfired after a replay showed no spike on the Ultra Edge. Ishan, who was dismissed for just one off 4, was seen cursing himself in the dressing room after watching the video.
What did Sidhu and Sehwag say?
{{/usCountry}}Sidhu rather blamed the umpire for his decision to signal it out despite no appeal from Mumbai players. His tweet read: “Buying trouble is as easy as pie, but the carrying charges run pretty high … have you ever seen an umpire rule someone out without an appeal?”
Sehwag, on the other hand, questioned Ishan's honesty, before harshly reminding that he is not getting paid for doing the umpire's part of the role. Calling it a sheer moment of "brain fade," Sehwag reckoned had Ishan waited for the umpire's decision, Mumbai would have opted for a review, which could have clearly showed that he was not out.
"Many times, the mind fails to work at that moment. It was brain fade. Ruk toh jaa. Umpire bhi paise le rahe hai (Stop at least and wait for the umpire to make his decision. He is also charging some amount of money for his job). Let him do his work. I could not understand this honesty. Had it been an edge, it would have been understandable because that would be in the spirit of the game. But it was neither out, the umpire was unsure, and you started walking off all of a sudden. Then even the umpire is in a dilemma. Rocky Ponting used to say that my work was to bat, the umpire's work is to decide on the dismissal," he said on Cricbuzz.
The dismissal saw Ishan's poor run of form continue in IPL 2025. Since his stunning century in SRH's season opener against the Rajasthan Royals, he scored only 33 runs in the next seven innings at just 5.5.