IPL 2020: Suresh Raina’s exit to baffling umpiring – Top 5 controversies from this year’s tournament

IPL 2020: What is Indian Premier League without controversies! The tournament has given fans a lot to talk about over the years, both because of on field action and drama outside of it. The recently concluded 13th season of IPL was no different. There were a number of incidents that made headlines during the tournament, mostly for wrong reasons. As the season comes to an end, it’s time to look back at them. Here are top five controversies of IPL 2020:  

Suresh Raina’s Exit  

The drama began even before the players took the field, with Suresh Raina, often referred to as Mr IPL, took a flight home under mysterious circumstances. While Raina cited personal reasons behind the move, the CSK management gave statements that made believe otherwise. Few days later, the team management also terminated Raina’s contract. It didn’t help the side at all as they missed out on a Play-Off position for the very first time. 

Anushka Sharma vs Sunil Gavaskar  

In the initial days of the tournament, Sunil Gavaskar was criticised when he commented on the unpreparedness of Virat Kohli during the lockdown. Referring to a viral video of Anushka Sharma bowling to Kohli in the building compound, Gavaskar said, “Kohli faced only Anushka’s bowling during the lockdown.” After this comment, Anushka took to social media and slammed Gavaskar for his displeasing remark. The former cricketer later came out and clarified that he meant something else.  

Baffling Umpiring 

At least the first half of this season will be remembered for some bizarre umpiring decisions. One of these came during the DC and KXIP match, when the on-field umpire, Nitin Menon, thought that Jordan had not crossed the crease during the first run and then he declared it a short run. This decision went against Punjab and the match was tied. Punjab went on to lose the match in the Super Over. 

In another incident, umpire Paul Reiffel stretched his arms to give wide only to pull them back after seeing MS Dhoni’s anger. The replays showed the ball to be clearly outside the wide tramline. 

Aakash Chopra vs James Neesham 

Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra was critical of James Neesham after he ended up giving a lot of runs in death overs. He went ahead and stated that the all-rounder was “not a match-winner”. James Neesham retaliated on Twitter by saying, “Averaging 18.5 and striking at 90 doesn’t win many matches either,” while mocking the IPL career of Chopra. 

The R Ashwin Way 

Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting gave a statement around 'Mankading' ahead of the IPL and said that he plans to have a conversation with R Ashwin. Later in the tournament, Ashwin had the chance to ran Finch out in the same fashion but decided not to. He later took to social media and tweeted, “Let’s make it clear !! First and final warning for 2020. I am making it official and don’t blame me later on. @RickyPonting #runout #nonstriker @AaronFinch5 and I are good buddies btw.”