Aakash Chopra Gives His Verdict On Controversial Wide-Call During Chetan Sakariya’s Final Over

Aakash Chopra feels the controversial wide-call by the on-field umpire during Chetan Sakariya’s over in the second T20I between Sri Lanka and India didn’t affect the outcome of the game. Sri Lanka beat India by four wickets to level the T20I series 1-1.

During the final over of the match bowled by Chetan Sakariya, there was a wide call that had left the fans fuming. It was a tough decision to make for the umpire in real-time. Replays showed that the ball was rather inside the tramline.

What’s better than to represent your country doing the thing what you love….#t20debut . pic.twitter.com/YW7ih3ZpNy

— Chetan Sakariya (@Sakariya55) July 29, 2021

However, former cricketer Aakash Chopra stated the rules are properly balanced for now. Talking to ESPNcricinfo, Chopra said:

“Our game is very unique – the only game that has an umpire and not a referee. But what you are actually looking for is just consistency. I think the line moves when the batsman moves. If it doesn’t then it won’t make any sense because then, you are taking everything away from a bowler.”

“Consider a switch-hit for example. If a right-hander turns and becomes a left-hander then he should be treated as a left-hander. In fact, it gives something to the bowlers when he beats the batsman on both sides and it’s still not a wide because he (the batsman) has changed while the field remained the same,” he added.

Aakash Chopra feels it’s more important to focus on consistency

Similar to Chetan Sakariya’s delivery, there was another incident that involved Bhuvneshwar Kumar. In the penultimate over bowled by the senior bowler, there was an umpiring decision that went India’s way. Aakash Chopra pointed out the same and stated it technically nullified Chetan Sakariya’s wide.

“A lot of Indians might be feeling slightly hard done by but then but Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s wide should have been given a wide, it wasn’t and now Sakariya‘s ball didn’t look like a wide but it was given. So, it evened out in the hand but the question remained on the consistency,” he said.

He reckoned it isn’t easy to maintain consistency to a tee since human errors always play a factor.

“I know there are different umpires on both ends and multiple umpires across the globe so you will not have 100% consistency. But getting as close as possible will resolve this issue,” Chopra concluded.