In his first match back as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain, MS Dhoni was given out lbw to Sunil Narine in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), and that's led to a debate.
Dhoni was given out on the field by umpire Chris Gaffaney when the delivery from Narine turned into the batter after pitching outside off and hit him on the front pad in front of the stumps. Dhoni reviewed it immediately and the third umpire, Vinod Seshan, took some time before reaching his decision.
In the replays that were shown on the broadcast, there was a murmur on UltraEdge when the ball passed the inside edge, but it wasn't a sharp spike, which usually confirms the edge. Seshan went through multiple split-screen replays, with the front-on angle next to a square-leg angle. Seshan was checking if there was a gap between bat and pad, and finally said, "Yes, satisfied. It's not bat. No bat involved." Next came the ball-tracking projection, which showed the ball going on to hit leg stump, which meant the on-field decision was upheld.
The UltraEdge showed slight murmurs as the ball passed MS Dhoni's bat
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While Dhoni did not show any visible disgruntlement at the decision, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming came out on to the field when a strategic timeout taken after the dismissal. Fleming often walks out during timeouts, but on this occasion, he spent some time speaking with umpire Gaffaney.
"Listening to the directions of the DRS [third] umpire, he seemed very, very under-confident," Sanjay Bangar said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "He wasn't really sure because when he was wanting to see the ball at a particular time, he was saying 'forward' when he wanted to get it back. So, clearly, he was also under a little bit of indecisiveness, if that's the right word. But there was something on the UltraEdge, it did pick up something."
