'Would Love to Hear Hawkeye’s Explanation', Says Aakash Chopra Following UPW's Chamari Athapattu Dismissal Against RCB

Sri Lankan allrounder Chamari Athapaththu’s dismissal during her WPL side UP Warriorz against the likes of Smriti Mandhana’s Royal Challengers in the ongoing second edition of the T20 franchise league for women had caused a stir among pundits and fans alike.

Athapaththu was dismissed for 8 runs off as many deliveries while facing a Georgia Wareham delivery in the 7th over of the game, which turned the tide of the match in the hosts’ favour.

RCB opted for a review after the umpire was unmoved by the side’s appeal, but the DRS returned three reds for ‘hitting wickets’, ‘point of impact’ and ‘the line of the pitch’ and the home side had their wicket.

The delivery which was tossed high up by Wareham hit Athapattu on the pads after she tried to sweep the ball and missed. But, what fanned the controversy was that the ball turned in the opposite direction to a traditional leg-break delivery, per ball-tracking.

Former Indian player Aakash Chopra stated that he’d like to hear Hawkeye’s explanation for the dismissal.

“This is a leg-spin delivery. The ball pitches really close to the foot. Hawkeye’s projection takes it as a straight ball/googly…shows hitting the middle stump. Would love to hear Hawkeye’s explanation for this. Do more errors happen when the ball is pitching really close to the impact on the pads? Remember Joe Root’s LBW was a half-volley too,” Chopra’s post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter read.

RCB picked up a 32-run win over UPW at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Tuesday to close out the first phase of the WPL 2024 in the Karnataka capital before it moves to Delhi for the second part of the tournament.

The second phase of the WPL gets underway at the national capital on Tuesday as the Delhi Capitals take on holders Mumbai Indians in a mouth-watering top-of-the-table contest.