IPL: Rishabh Pant’s uncanny ‘chauka’ prediction has fans crying foul

IPL: Rishabh Pant’s uncanny ‘chauka’ prediction has fans crying foul

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 12:26 AM IST
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Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP |

New Delhi: India’s young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was on Sunday caught in the eye of a storm owing to an edited stump microphone clip from an IPL game, which went viral on social media but was dismissed by the BCCI as “misconstrued”. The less-than-a-minute long clip was from Saturday night’s match between Delhi Capitals and Kolkata Knight Riders.

It shows Pant, from behind the stumps, saying that “yeh to chauka hai” (this is a boundary) as KKR’s Robin Uthappa took guard against Sandeep Lamichhane. What wasn’t clear from the video clip was the context of Pant’s comment. But, as predicted, the next delivery was pushed by Uthappa through the covers for a boundary.

Next instant, the edited clip of the purported prediction started doing the rounds from unverified Twitter accounts, supposedly of cricket fans. Some of them claimed the match was fixed and that Pant knew before the ball was delivered that it would find the fence.

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Incidentally, Delhi won the match in Super Over after the scores were tied. Later, a BCCI official was at pains to point out that it was “very unfortunate” that social media ran an incomplete clip. “No one heard what Rishabh said before that particular sentence. He was apparently telling (Delhi Capitals captain) Shreyas Iyer to increase fielders on the off-side to stop an imminent four,” a top BCCI official told PTI.

“Maligning a young cricketer without even knowing the details is so unfortunate. A section of media allowed the social media to insinuate and vilify a young talent without getting into details.

This is so disgusting,” said the official. It has been learnt that Hotstar, who hold the digital (streaming rights) rights of the IPL, have complained to various social media platforms for illegal use of their footage and are getting the clip removed.

This isn’t the first time that stump microphone has pushed Pant into the spotlight. During his highly successful tour of Australia, Pant’s zestful teasing of rival batsmen, especially Aussie captain Tim Paine, went viral on social media.

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