The TV umpire was forced to apologise for a massive blunder after Madhya Pradesh captain Rajat Patidar refused to leave the field after his side's batting innings during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final against Mumbai on Sunday. Patidar was left fuming after TV umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan overturned the on-field umpire's wide decision on the final ball of the innings. The delivery from Shardul Thakur was given wide even though Patidar moved outside the off-stump to play it. However, the TV umpire overturned it stating that the batter has moved towards the direction of the delivery.
Patidar did not leave the ground and urged the on-field umpires to have another look as the ball had pitched the popping crease. The decision was finally overturned by the TV umpire.
"Extremely sorry, the ball had pitched outside the popping crease. I did not see that,” Ananthapadmanabhan was heard saying on the official broadcast.
Coming to the match, Mumbai leaned on their collective batting strength to subdue a spirited Madhya Pradesh by five wickets to clinch the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Sunday.
Mumbai were stretched on more than one occasion during the chase of 175, a target MP built around skipper Rajat Patidar's fluent unbeaten 81, on a slightly tacky pitch, but eventually they reached 180 for five in 17.5 overs.
This was Mumbai's second SMAT title after winning it for the first time in 2022, while MP's wait for a maiden trophy prolonged to another season.
After a brief period of lull, Suryakumar Yadav (48, 35b, 4x4, 3x6) reactivated his run-making ways and added 52 runs for the third wicket with Ajinkya Rahane (37, 30b, 4x4).
It helped Mumbai to recover from the early dismissals of Prithvi Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer, both of them falling to rather causal shots.
(With PTI inputs)