Sports
Umpiring is a tough job and Dharmasena struggling to keep pace
Rex Clementine in Galle
Cricket’s finest writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins went onto become the President of MCC. It was he who invited Kumar Sangakkara to deliver the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s and it remains the best annual Home of Cricket speech ever. CMJ had a superb sense of humour to drive home some harsh truths about the sport. His take on umpires was interesting. He once wrote, ‘I never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.’
There’s nothing wrong with Kumar Dharmasena’s eye-sight but he must be the first person to admit that he’s going through his leanest patch as an official. Several of his decisions have come under the spotlight particularly two of those that determined the outcome of two series.
Dinesh Chandimal was on 30 when he nicked Mitchell Starc to the keeper. The only guy who didn’t hear the nick was Dharmasena and of course Chandimal, who tricked the umpire by shaking his head. Australia could have reviewed but they had burned all their reviews just before that and had to bite the bullet.
Chandimal just didn’t stop after scoring a hundred but he went onto get a double ton and while doing so rubbed salt into Aussie wounds. His onslaught of Starc, whom he hit for three sixes out of the ground to reach the milestone was the last straw. You could see the pain in the Aussie faces. They were graceful to shake hands with the batsman for this was Chandimal at his best. Nothing from Starc though. He certainly has an axe to grind with both Chandimal and Dharmasena, the former for not walking and the latter for being incompetent.
Take nothing away from Chandimal though. After the let off he batted superbly and was a treat to watch, particularly that last wicket stand of 49 runs in which Kasun Rajitha contributed zero.
If Sri Lanka were laughing ear to ear in the Australia Test, they were reminded that this game is a great leveler in the next Test match against Pakistan. They were feeling the pinch on this occasion as Dharmasena turned down a leg before wicket shout of Abdullah Shafique. He was on four and went onto score a match winning 160 not out as Pakistan chased down a 342, a new record in Galle.
Shafique’s was an umpire’s call though and Sri Lanka had not much reason to grumble. Anyway Shafique was dropped thrice during his innings. So, Sri Lanka had themselves more than Dharmasena to blame. However, with Dimuth Karunaratne copping an almost similar dismissal in the second innings, you felt that the umpire was lacking consistency.
There were many other decisions that Dharmasena had got wrong. During the four Tests in Galle, four different umpires officiated along with Dharmasena who being the local umpire stood in all four games. Nitin Menon, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough and Marias Erasmus had decent games and Dharmasena’s errors were being exposed badly especially when the other umpire wasn’t getting many decisions wrong. Wonder whether fatigue had taken to Dharmasena?
It’s been a great run for Kumar Dharmasena as an elite panel umpire. He was a banker at HNB when his former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga as Board Chairman fast-tracked him as an international umpire. There was a howl of protest by the umpiring fraternity and the matter went up to Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge. Arjuna stood his ground backing his former team mate. His argument was that in a bid to encourage former Test cricketers into umpiring you had to give them incentives. Fair point.
But when the same Ranatunga, who was in Galle to witness the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka, fears that his man is losing the plot then Mr. Dharmasena will have to do some soul searching.
We all remember West Indies winning the T-20 World Cup in 2016 after Carlos Brathwaite smashed Ben Stokes out of the park in that maniac last over. Not many remember that Dharmasena had saved the Windies thanks to his attention to minute details. That was his highest point in umpiring. The lowest point came three years later at Lord’s when he messed up the final.
All umpires make mistakes but Dharmasena is making them regularly. It’s been a great ride to see him making tremendous progress as one of world’s top umpires. But his recent blunders are too glaring. Umpires like Ruchira Palliyaguru and Ravindra Wimalasiri are waiting on the wings for an opportunity.
[Cricbuzz]
Why did David Miller refuse a single off the penultimate delivery with Delhi Capitals needing 2 off 2? It’ll be spoken of for a while, but not inside the Gujarat Titans change room. Because Prasidh Krishna bowled a nerveless slower bouncer off the final delivery that Miller missed, and Jos Buttler then nailed a direct hit with an underarm throw from behind the stumps to run out Kuldeep Yadav, clinching a dramatic first win for GT in IPL 2026.
Despite being adjudged run out on the field, Miller wasn’t in the mood to concede defeat, and reviewed the final ball for a possible wide. But when replays confirmed what he had perhaps known, he was crestfallen. Equally distraught in the dugout was K L Rahul, whose 52-ball 92 set the game up for DC but for one run.
It was GT’s first win of the tournament and the first loss for DC after starting the campaign with two wins in a row.
Thirty-six needed off 12. A bruised finger that didn’t make it easy for him to grip the bat had forced Miller to retire hurt with DC needing 81 off 42. But when Tristan Stubbs was run-out in the 17th over, Miller returned hoping to play second fiddle to Rahul. Instead, he was now expected to deliver a box-office hit with Rahul nicking behind off a full Mohammed Siraj delivery two balls later.
Miller nearly delivered what was expected, as he went 6, 4, 6 off Siraj, repeatedly peppering the short leg-side boundary. At the other end, Vipraj Nigam also ramped four off a short delivery to bring the equation down to a manageable 13 off the final over.
Prasidh was tasked to bowl the final over. His three overs prior to that had been walloped for 41; Rahul, his state mate, had climbed into him earlier in the night. But all that would’ve been forgiven if Prasidh delivered a gun final over. That GT could only have four fielders out due to a slow over rate added to his challenge. And he nearly succumbed.
Nigam made room and swung cleanly to hit the first ball to the long-off fence, but a rush of blood had him swipe the second delivery to Shubman Gill at mid-off. With DC now needing nine off four, Kuldeep gently deflected his first ball to deep third to leave the chase in Miller’s hands.
With the equation down to 8 off 3, Prasidh bowled a slot-ball that Miller walloped over long-off. But with two needed, Miller inexplicably refused a single to take it all upon himself to finish the deal. He couldn’t connect on the final ball, and Prasidh belted a roar. GT had pulled one from under DC’s rug in dramatic circumstances.
After scores of 1 and 0 in his first two games, Rahul announced himself with a 29-ball half-century that was as pleasing as they come for large parts. It was also one that didn’t have the baggage of him playing run-accumulator, like he has tended to in the past while opening the batting. This Rahul was fun, free and fearless and he helped DC overcome a few roadblocks along the way, like when they lost two wickets in two deliveries to Rashid Khan at the halfway mark.
Rahul was particularly menacing against the fast bowlers, and it began with a wristy flick that he sent way back over deep square off Kagiso Rabada. The early jitters out of the way – if he even had some inkling of them – he batted like a man possessed, fearlessly climbing into length balls from Prasidh over cover, and slapping disdainfully over point.
He is good, but where is the Rashid of old, they asked. Turns out he hadn’t gone anywhere. After he conceded just nine in his first two with DC rampant, he returned to dismiss Nitish Rana in his dramatic third over, the 10th of the innings. Having been given out lbw earlier, only for Rana to overturn the decision through DRS, he was out a few balls later when he miscued a googly to Sai Sudharsan at long-off. This was Rana’s third sub-20 score of the season.
This brought the in-form Sameer Rizvi to the middle, and he lasted all of one delivery as Rashid snuck through his inside-edge with a ripping googly to briefly elicit jitters in the DC camp. This is when Miller entered, before briefly exiting with seven overs left. But in the same over, when Rashid had Axar Patel slice one to Glenn Phillips running back from cover, GT started to have an opening.
On any other night, Rashid’s spell would have cracked open the game. The fact that DC were still in it despite these wickets was down to Rahul. It needed the skilful Siraj to dismiss him with DC needing 45 off three overs. By then, the pressure was telling.
That GT were eventually able to get over the line was down to their run cushion, made possible thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler, Gill and Washington Sundar. Buttler looked unshackled, hitting four sixes off his first 15 deliveries en route a bruising half-century, while Gill played himself in and then allayed fears of neck spasms during his takedown of Kuldeep with the slog sweep. Then Washington, promoted to No. 4, struck his maiden IPL fifty to shore up the innings.
Even so, GT managed just 49 off the last five. On another day, this may have proved to be costly. It didn’t on Wednesday, and for that, they have Rashid to thank.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 210 for 4 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 70, Jos Buttler 52, Washington Sundar 55, Glenn Phillips 14*; Mukesh Kumar 2-55, Lungi Ngidi 1-24, Kuldeep Yadav 1-42 ) beat Delhi Capitals 209 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 41, KL Rahul 92, David Miller 41*, Vipraj Nigam 12; Mohammed Siraj 1-42, Rashid Khan 3-17, Prasidh Krishna 2-52) by one run
[Cricinfo]
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