IPL Match Comes to a Halt After Umpire Forgets Ball in His Pants
A scene straight out of Gully cricket was being telecasted on TV when Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab met at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
Screenshot from video uploaded on www.iplt20.com. (IPL)
Returning from the strategic break after the 14th over of RCB's innings, the game came to a brief halt.
"Where's the ball?" asked umpires, bowler, and the batsmen in unison, as no one on the field could track the ball. And no, AB de Villiers had no hand in this.
The confusion began when KXIP pacer Ankit Rajpoot stood on his mark to resume the match and bowl the 15th over when he asked his teammates to pass the ball. Little did he know, they were as clueless as him.
RCB batsman Marcus Stoinis stood in shock while the humour wasn't lost on AB de Villiers, who managed a chuckle, as the two waited for the game to get underway.
This was when skipper Ravichandran Ashwin stepped in and walked up to the field umpire, Shamshuddin, to quiz him over the curious case of the missing ball. Unfortunately, the umpire, too, was at a loss of words.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, the second umpire, Bruce Oxenford joined the scene and the fourth umpire rushed onto the field with a box of fresh balls.
MUST WATCH: Where's the Ball? Ump pocket 😅😅
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 24, 2019
📹📹https://t.co/HBli0PYxdq pic.twitter.com/ir0FaT11LN
Commentators, who were trying to track the ball, watched the entire fiasco in much amusement.
But did they use a new ball?
Television replays helped solve the mystery as umpire Shamshuddin was caught on camera pocketing the ball during the strategic break.
Watching himself on the big screen, Shamshuddin realised the gaffe and promptly returned the ball to Ankit Rajpoot.
Cricket fans on social media were thoroughly entertained.
This is something I have seen for the first time.... the game was held up because the umpire forgot that the ball was in his pocket! #RCBvKXIP #IPL2019
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) April 24, 2019
Ball missing in the beginning of the over and find it in umpire's pocket. Matlab #IPL aur kuch bhi.
— Arbaz Raza (@the_arbazraza_) April 24, 2019
Magician umpire!!!#IPL2019 #RCBvKXIP
Bails girti nahin hain...balls milti nahin hain. #RCBvKXIP #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 24, 2019
Gully cricket or IPL?! Ball lost
— kanika sandal (@kanikasandal) April 24, 2019
Hilarious scenes!
#RCBvKXIP
Umpire has the ball in his pocket and he forgot. ROFL. How can you? #RCBvKXIP
— Bidhan Majhi (@bidhan_16) April 24, 2019
Everyone is searching for the ball. Rajpoot at the top of the mark is asking for the umpire and Sshuddin doesn't know where it is.Very bizarre. Where did the ball go? MAshwin hadgiven it to Oford,he gives it to Sshuddin who puts it in his pocket. Now he knows #RCBvKXIP @IPL @BCCI
— Noir (@Noirmpm) April 24, 2019
Gully cricket at its best!
— Naveen Bagga (@naveenbagga1) April 24, 2019
Ball lost! #IPL2019 #RCBvKXIP
Where is the ball.... ?
— Mini (@arlenechristin2) April 24, 2019
Like where are the keys.. where are my specs... where is my phone
"RIGHT on you" #RCBvKXIP #VIVOIPL
So umpire forgets that he had kept the ball in his pocket! And they only found out about the whereabouts of the ball after checking the TV footage! Hilarious.
— RAJESH SAMAL (@rajesh_offical) April 24, 2019
Was Shamshuddin demanding for batting before giving out the ball? #IPL2019 #RCBvKXIP
You can watch the hilarious incident here: www.iplt20.com.