Adelaide, Feb 14: Did a glaring umpiring error in the 30th over of the Indian innings rob India a chance of victory in their tri-series match against Sri Lanka ?
The match ended in a tie with India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni managing three runs of the final Malinga delivery in the 50th over to level the scores.
When Lasith Malinga bowled the 30th over of the day, the Sri Lankan pacer sent down five deliveries after which the umpires indicated over change. The five deliveries in the 30th over had yielded nine runs with Dhoni taking a single of the fifth delivery.
With the match ending in a tie, there was every possibility that India could have ended on a winning note had that sixth delivery of the 30th over been bowled.
The umpiring blunder by Englishmen Simon Fry and Nigel Llong came under the scanner soon after the match. Third umpire Bruce Oxemford of Australia also did little to rectify the lapse.
The Indian captain made his displeasure clear but also admitted that they can't make a “big fuss” out of the issue.
“It's done and dusted with. We can create a big fuss out of it but what's the point? It's like a controversy standing right on the edge...just about to happen. What's the point as it's a controversy which is right there and we don't really want to get into anything like that...Hopefully, it won't be repeated, not only with us but not even with any other side,” Dhoni said the post-match press conference.
“As I said, we have seen in the past. We have bowled an over and we almost changed sides but the third umpire interferred and said “Ok you have to bowl one more bowl in this particular over but it did not happen in this game. I don't know why? Nothing can be done right now,” the skipper added.
