By BV Swagath
Yesterday’s high-scoring contest between the Chennai Super Kings and the Sunrisers Hyderabad at Ranchi went well past 12:00 AM mid night. Batsmen from both the teams struck boundaries and sixes at will while the bowlers had to wipe the ball most of the time. The excessive dew conditions and the flat batting pitch took the toll on the fielding sides. And that has now taken toll on the Captains of the two teams – Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni.
Although the match went well past the scheduled finish, the Match Referee has come to the conclusion that the two teams were just an over behind the required rate. This is of course after taking all the due considerations. One of them being the fact that mopping activities was done on the entire ground after every 10 overs to clear the dew. In spite of that, there was still plenty of dew on the grass to make life miserable for the bowlers and also the fielders who put down a couple of catches because of the soapy condition of the ball.
Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni were fined 1500 USD each (approximately 93,000 INR) for what is only their first offence in this edition of the tournament. Their team mates were fined 750 USD each.
