The Vijay Hazare match between Madhya Pradesh and Delhi witnessed unruly scenes as former India wicketkeeper and MP skipper Naman Ojha ferociously argued with the umpires Rajeev Godara, Navdeep Singh and match referee Nitin Goel, halting play for over 20 minutes.
Naman and the entire MP team was unhappy over the alleged 'dismissal' of Nitish Rana and arbitrary manner to reverse the decision at the behest of the batsman and late referral to the third umpire.
“First you gave him out, then how can you change your own decision. Are you an umpire or is this all a joke? How can you keep changing your decisions,” Ojha was heard shouting.
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The unruly scenes and heated arguments happened in the presence of national selector Devang Gandhi and former India coach John Wright, who was present in the capacity of talent scout for Mumbai Indians.
The incident happened in the 28th over of the Delhi innings when Nitish Rana played a sweep shot off left-arm spinner Rameez Khan and ball ricocheted to short fine leg fielder. Umpire Rajeev Godara initially consulted leg umpire Navdeep before giving Nitish out.
Non-striker Dhruv Shorey and Nitish both protested and asked the umpires to refer it to the third umpire since the facility was available. The umpires then went upstairs and Nitish was declared not out. This prompted an angry response from the MP team, and they vented out their frustration towards the umpires and stopped play till match referee intervened and diffused tension.
This incident is expected to warrant serious sanctions against Naman Ojha and may even be banned for a game. The BCCI is expected to take a final call after seeking a report from the match referee.