India cruised to victory in the one-off T20I against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday to clinch every single game on the tour. Virat Kohli led India’s charge with a magnificent 82 to cruise to the target of 171. But was it really the result that was meant to be?
A controversy has emerged from the toss before the game. The commentator Murali Kartik was present at the pitch during the toss alongside the 2 captain Upul Tharanga of Sri Lanka and Virat Kohli of India. The match-referee Andy Pycroft hailing from Zimbabwe was also there to conduct the proceedings.
Tharanga tossed the coin and Kohli called ‘heads’. As the coin landed, Pycroft said it was ‘tails’ and that India has won the toss. Kartik heard India and immediately turned to the Indian captain to ask for his choice after winning the toss.
Kohli opted to bowl first as there was still some moisture around due to the heavy rains before the match. Amidst all this, Pycroft tried to gesture that there was some mistake but by that time, Kartik and Kohli had started discussing the plans for the game. But for a slight moment, the match-referee was caught on camera signaling something to the duo which went unnoticed.
It’s quite possible that Pycroft made the mistake in hearing Kohli’s call or he called the wrong name for the winner of the toss. This could be a huge mistake as the result of the match could well have been different had Sri Lanka batted second given the nature of the shortest format of the game.
SLC to lodge a complaint
Sri Lanka Cricket is not happy with the incident and have opted to report. “Top officials of the SLC sent all the related material of toss blunder to President Mr Sumathipala on Thursday morning. he is travelling at the moment so need to wait till he lands to see what next step is.” a source close to SLC told Cricket Age.
Here’s the video of the incident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIk5XE31_aw
