Image Credit- AP
Shadab Khan fueled more flames in a week where DRS
technology has been the subject of intense discussion by directly attributing
Islamabad United’s PSL defeat to Quetta Gladiators to it. Shadab referred to a
review that provided the Gladiators with a little respite during United’s low
total defence shortly after the Gladiators completed a three-wicket victory. He
contested that Hawk-Eye had tracked the incorrect delivery when determining
whether Rilee Rossouw was out leg before wicket.
“I think technology made a mistake,” a
visibly-angry Shadab said. “The ball-tracking showed a different delivery,
and it was a match-changing moment. These sorts of things should be sorted out
properly in such a big tournament. These mistakes should not happen. I bowled
four overs here as a legspinner, and I don’t think the ball was spinning here.
And they showed Agha [Salman]’s delivery hitting outside off stump and spinning
away. I don’t buy that.”
The incident in issue happened in the Quetta
Gladiators innings during the eleventh over. Gladiators captain Rossouw
attempted to sweep Agha off the last delivery of the over, but he was unable
and the ball struck his front pad. An enthusiastic appeal from the fielding
side was upheld by Aleem Dar, and Gladiators looked it over right away.
In the end, Hawk-Eye concluded that the ball had
struck the left-hander outside the stump line and that it had the potential to
miss off stump as well. The slow-motion review seemed to show the ball
straightening instead of gripping and twisting, which clearly stunned both the
fielding side and umpire Dar when they saw it on the big screen. A possible
discrepancy between where the ball had struck Rossouw and where Hawk-Eye’s
tracking said it had struck was also hinted at by static photos of the impact on
the pad, with the former considerably more likely to be in line with the
stumps.
Shadab’s displeasure was exacerbated by the match’s
delicate balance. Sherfane Rutherford and Rossouw were rebuilding for the
Quetta Gladiators, who had lost four wickets in the first four overs. With nine
overs remaining, the Gladiators were 82 for 4, needing a further 57 to win.
Their long tail left them especially vulnerable, as United thought a
breakthrough there would blow the game wide open.
As things worked out, the two formed a combination that prevented United from
winning the match. The Gladiators made it three wins in a row when they put
together 62 for the fifth wicket, with Rossouw remaining undefeated at 34 till
the very finish. United, on the other hand, has two losses and one win.