NEWS
Follow UsUP Warriorz’s head coach Jon Lewis said that the controversial dismissal of Chamari Athapaththu was very "frustrating" and a “massive turning point” in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday (March 4).
The incident occurred in the seventh over of UP Warriorz’ run chase. Athapaththu tried to sweep a full delivery from the leg-spinner Georgia Wareham but missed the ball altogether. A loud appeal followed and the umpire Vrinda Rathi adjudged it in favor of the batter.
After a brief discussion with her teammates, RCB’s skipper Smriti Mandhana hesitantly opted for the review. The replays showed the ball to be pitching right in front of Athapaththu’s front boot and turning away from the leg stump before hitting her front pad. There was no bat involved. But that was not the query.
The Ball Tracker found the ball to be pitching just in line with the leg stump. The minimal distance between the pitch of the ball and the impact where it hit the left-handed batter skewed the technology’s comprehension, deeming it go straight with the angle and hit the middle stump.
Also read - Was Chamari Athapaththu out or did the DRS mess up?
The RCB players celebrated in utter surprise. Athapaththu was in shock with her eyes glued at the giant screen showing the replays. Meanwhile, Alyssa Healy, UPW’s captain at the non-striker’s end, was seen in an animated chat with the on-field umpire after she overturned her decision. Athapaththu had to depart.
"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 legspinner. There are not many legspinners that go towards that (other) side. It was a fascinating dismissal and a massive turning point for us in that game,” said Lewis.
The Warriorz were 63/1 at the stage in the 199-run chase. They then lost four wickets in the next six overs and ended up losing the game by 23 runs. “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,” Lewis pointed out.
“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.
"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."
UP have dropped 10 catches in this tournament, the most by any team. They dropped Mandhana twice and also missed a stumping opportunity, allowing the RCB opener to get away with 80 off 50 deliveries.
"Our bowling and batting at times have been good enough to win every game we have played, against any team. We've lost just a little momentum with our fielding... We missed Smriti when she was on 20 (29). It was a pretty straightforward catch, you would expect an experienced international to catch that. So that was disappointing,” said Lewis.
"If I was to put my finger on where we really let ourselves down (tonight), it is that we dropped that catch, and we weren't quite as accurate with the ball. If you drop the top players, they make you pay. We can't afford to do that. We've done that a few times in the tournament already and we need to get better at it for sure."
Talking about fielding under lights and in front of such a big crowd, Lewis said: "Primarily it's the local Indian players who are dropping the balls under lights. Probably it's just that they are not used to the ball coming as fast as it does, the perceived depth of the ball coming out of the night sky, especially if it goes high... The ball comes a little faster than you expect under lights. It's just a little bit of an experience of playing in the conditions that we are in. And the ball travels a little bit quicker here, at an altitude, through the air. That's there as well.
"There weren't many opportunities for us to practise during this tournament. It's very much one practice session here (Chinnaswamy) before the tournament started. So it's very hard for us to get facilities to practise under lights here in Bangalore with the regularity of our games. It's also quite a tricky thing to practise. I think, with time, those players will get used to it. It would be the odd international (player) who has dropped a few here and there, but not many.
"We've got a group of very experienced international cricketers playing with a group of inexperienced domestic cricketers from India. Those levels will get closer with the exposure in this tournament. But what I would say is that the international cricketers hit the ball a lot harder than the domestic cricketers do. Therefore, the fielders are under a lot more pressure. And don't forget the crowd. The players are not used to the crowd (of this kind). So there's the pressure of that as well."
UP are currently fourth on the points table, having won two and lost three of their five games. Lewis has been mighty impressed with Kiran Navgire who has so far scored 98 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 163.33. Even in this game, the 19-year-old slammed 18 off 11 before falling to Sophie Devine.
“I have been really impressed with Kiran. We gave her some opportunities higher up the order last year and coming into this tournament, I felt she would be a better finisher for us. But Vrinda dislocating her shoulder, Kiran has walked out and taken up that opportunity.
“Against Mumbai, she won us that game in reality. Got us ahead of the game and got that required rate down pretty quickly. With Alyssa and her tonight, it looked like we were in for a similar experience. She is an excellent striker of the ball. She is an impact cricketer and on these surfaces, the powerplay is her place.”
Bangalore have been slightly inconsistent but have still managed to win three of their five encounters. They are currently placed at No. 3 on the points table. Mandhana has been in superb form and is currently the leading run-scorer. The left-hander added 95 runs with Perry (37-ball 58) and propelled RCB to a formidable total.
“We have been a little bit up and down over the last five games. Our good has been really good but when we haven’t got it right, it’s been pretty bad. The way Smriti is batting at the moment… We saw that again tonight. Just the way she dominated from the get-go and put the pressure on the bowlers. Her partnership with Pez (Perry) was also great,” said RCB legspinner Wareham.
The 24-year-old from Australia heaped heavy praise on uncapped Indian legspinner Asha Sobhana, who took 2/29 in her four overs against UP. She now has seven wickets @ 15.14 in the competition, including a five-wicket haul. “She is a super-talented leggie. I think we both bowl a little bit differently but the way Smriti has used us, has been very cool. I love Asha’s confidence and the way she bowls.“
