UP Warriorz (UPW) coach Jon Lewis reacted to the controversial dismissal of Chamari Athapaththu on Monday, March 04 during the WPL 2024 game. He said it was “incredibly frustrating” to see the controversial ball-tracking call that resulted in Athapaththu’s wicket against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Chasing a mammoth total of 199, Athapaththu was hit on the pads after missing a sweep shot against leg-spinner Georgia Wareham. The on-field umpire gave not-out and within no time RCB reviewed the decision.
The ball appeared to have pitched, turned and hit her below the knee. To the naked eye it looked to be going down. However, Hawk-eye viewed the impact much lower, just above the ankle, and projected it to hit the middle stump. Athapaththu, skipper Alyssa Healy and even the bowling side were shocked by the call during the WPL 2024 game.
“You watch the ball with the naked eye, and you think it might pitch in line, just maybe. Then you look at the ball rotating, and well, it’s rotating like a leg spinner. There are not many leg spinners that go towards that (other) side. It was a fascinating dismissal and a massive turning point for us in that game” – UPW head coach Lewis said.
The wicket came at a time when captain Healy and Athapaththu, who was included in the playing XI for the first time in this WPL season, were trying to form a partnership. It reduced the team to 63/3 and the Warriorz lost six more wickets for 175, losing the match by 23 runs.
ALSO READ: WPL 2024: UP Warriorz (UPW) – SWOT Analysis
There is something super effed up going on in DRS. It is either hallucinating contact or skipping frames. Here is a video from today,s WPL game. Watch it carefully… pic.twitter.com/GttKAEISBF
— Rahul Dave (@rahuldave) March 4, 2024
“Chamari is an amazing player and you saw how difficult it was when a left-hander and a right-hander were batting together, of the quality of Smriti and Ellyse Perry. And they are able to access the short side of the ground. That was one of the reasons why we picked Chamari, to be able to access the short side of the ground for both the right and the left-hander. So to lose her in that way was incredibly frustrating,” Lewis added.
That was not the only reason for the Warriorz defeat though. There was more than enough time for the middle order batters to recover but they kept struggling in that segment. RCB’s total of 199 was also an above-par score, assisted by a host of fielding lapses.
WPL 2024: “An interesting passage of play” – UP Warriorz head coach
Speaking further on the incident, Lewis stayed away from taking a dig at Hawk-Eye which many have done of late across formats, but repeated his team’s feeling.
“I don’t know the ins and outs of Hawk-Eye and the technology and how it works. But it was certainly an interesting passage of play, and something that we are pretty frustrated about.”
The UP Warriorz will take on the Mumbai Indians on Thursday, March 7 in their next encounter at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi.
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