‘Nitin, it’s not fair man’ – Heated debate between Ashwin and umpire Nitin Menon hogs limelight
With the pitch staying low and the action increasingly going against India, the focus slowly shifted to Ashwin and his odd run up resembling that of a left-arm orthodox spinner. Ashwin came in from around the wicket, going against a usual off-spinner’s angle and then following up through past the non-striker.
Nitin Menon seemed pretty upset with Ashwin’s angle of follow through and had a lengthy discussion with the off-spinner first and then Ajinkya Rahane about it.
Replays showed Ashwin wasn’t really stepping onto the danger area as was initially suspected by the commentators on air.
“Nitin, it’s not fair man. You tell me what i am doing wrong,” Ashwin asked in between, evidently audible via the stump mics.
Umpire Menon, who had an uncharacteristically bad game in terms of decision-making, was having it no other way although. A few suggestions indicated that the umpire was worried about his view and the non-striker’s aim to run being stalled by Ashwin moving across the stumps as his follow through.
Either way, social media was rife with reactions post the incident and a possible flare up between Ashwin and Nitin Menon.
Ravichandran Ashwin is a bowler who knows the rules very well. And i think that’s what’s playing out the middle. It’s more of i-cannot-see-the-action versus i-am-well-within-my-rights-to-use-angles views. #INDvNZ
— S. Sudarshanan (@Sudarshanan7) November 27, 2021
Nitin Menon – if u go across I cannot see lbw.
Ashwin – u didn’t see the last time anyway https://t.co/K8xnltBMtK
— ∆nkit (@CaughtAtGully) November 27, 2021
Ashwin – you are distracting me , that’s not fair, I practiced it before the game, asked the match refree, there wasn’t any problem then.
— ∆nkit (@CaughtAtGully) November 27, 2021
The umpire’s contention could be that his view will be blocked with @ashwinravi99 running across him in his follow through. Of course, with Ash staying within the danger area, the warning cannot be issued. Trust Ash to create a conundrum even for umpires.. #INDvsNZ
— WV Raman (@wvraman) November 27, 2021
ashwin v williamson of ashwin v menon, you prefer? #INDvsNZ
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) November 27, 2021
The Indian umpires are dominating India at the moment.
— Dennis Cummins (@DennisCricket_) November 27, 2021
Umpire: “You are obstructing my vision”
Rahane: “He’s not running on to the danger area.”
Umpire: “I can’t make the LBW calls.”
Ashwin: “You are anyways not making any”
LIVE COMMS:
https://t.co/XAI4PjXuF0 #INDvNZ | #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/rppDtulaRm— FlashScore Cricket Commentators (@FlashCric) November 27, 2021
Ashwin seemed quite pumped up since the morning session, using his angles cleverly to keep the batters quiet and he appeared to be really distracted by Nitin Menon’s instruction to not run across the stumps.