MS Dhoni Criticized For ‘Bullying Umpire’ Into Reversing Decision

On Tuesday, in the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash in Dubai, Chennai Super Kings defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs. Still, CSK captain MS Dhoni was criticized by netizens after the match for an incident during the match.

Cricket fans have criticized Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni for ‘intimidating’ the referee after apparently forcing Paul Reiffel to change his wide ball decision halfway through an angry backlash.

During the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 19th inning, the incident occurred in their unsuccessful pursuit of 168 in an IPL contest on Tuesday night.

Shardul Thakur was playing well on the outside, and after such delivery was well off the tramline, the referee on the Reiffel field duly started to stretch his hands. Still, Dhoni started to approach the stumps and nodded in frustration with what was about to happen.

Reiffel spotted Dhoni and changed the call halfway.

West Indies legend Ian Bishop says:

“He started calling it abroad, he looked up, saw Dhoni, and he changed his mind. I’m a nice person to the referees because it’s hard work, but tonight I will say Reiffel made a mistake.”

SRH captain David Warner, who was seated in the canoe, expressed disappointment with what was happening.

However, Dhoni’s action was not well received on social media.

“Such a playful mockery, pathetic!” Dhoni continues to intimidate the refs and gets away with it. I just lost count of it,” wrote one cricket fan on Twitter.

“Weak umpiring! Sad to see an elite referee bogged down by the growth of a cricketer,” said another Twitter user.

Last year, Dhoni was fined 50% of his match fees after barging onto the pitch during a tense IPL match to contest a referee appeal.

Cricket laws state:

“A referee may change any decision provided that such change is made promptly.”