It was yet another frustrating outing for UP Warriorz on Monday (Mar 4) in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) after they lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a high-scoring contest at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The match had plenty of talking points including Alyssa Healy’s car window-breaking shot and Smriti Mandhana’s 80-run knock. However one of the highlights also featured Chamari Athapaththu’s controversial decision that proved to be the turning point of the match according to Warriorz’s head coach Jon Lewis.

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What was the incident?

On the third ball of the seventh over, Athapaththu was hit on the pads while she attempted a sweep shot off Georgia Wareham. To the naked eye, it seemed as if the ball had turned away after pitching on a legstump line. Vrinda Rathi, the on-field umpire had declared it not out before Mandhana, the RCB skipper, opted to take a review.

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However, much to everyone’s surprise the ball tracking projected the ball to be heading straight, going on to hit the middle stump. This left everyone stunned in the opposition RCB camp as well while Warriorz skipper Healy even protested to the on-field umpire.

“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 [Mandhana] 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.

“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,” Warriorz coach Lewis said in the post-match.

The Warriorz lost by 23 runs which now sees them occupy the fourth spot in the five-team league but are still within two points of leaders Delhi Capitals. Monday’s game in Bengaluru was also the final one in the South Indian city as the attention will now turn to North as Delhi will host the remaining matches including the playoffs and final.

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