Mohali: For Karnataka, the third day’s play in the Ranji Trophy semifinal clash against Punjab was marked by discipline, determination and most importantly, patience. In stark contrast, the home side’s time on the pitch was marred by excessive and intimidating appeals, poor sportsman-spirit and rumours of ball tampering.
The umpires, in a surprising move, called for a new ball, just into the second over of the day. While the official version was that the ball had gone out of shape, it was evident that it was scuffed. Adding grist to the theory was the fact that on Sunday the ball was reversing quite a bit, and that too just 10 overs into Karnataka’s first innings. This also saw the Karnataka top order struggle to come to terms the previous day.
The Karnataka team management, taking note of the situation, brought it to the notice of match referee Sanjay Patil before start of play on Monday. But no written complaint was filed by the visiting side.
Meanwhile, adding salt to Punjab’s wounds, skipper Harbjahan Singh was docked 25 percent of his match fee for excessive appealing in an aggressive manner which is a level 1 offence.
