During match 58 of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, the fans reportedly hurled foreign objects at the Lucknow Super Giants players in the dugout. The moment occurred in the 19th over of the Sunrisers Hyderabad batting innings in the aftermath of a no-ball review overturned in favour of the visitors. Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian captain and a colour commentator for the IPL during the said game, was having none of it.
The ICC Hall of Famer was quoted as saying this about the matter, “What’s hard to understand is most dugouts have what we call flexi-glass. Here we have beach umbrella kind of thing, which is no protection. Come on, the Hyderabad Cricket Association can provide the proper dugouts rather than these makeshift things you see. Obviously, these are a problem, an issue.”
For the unversed, it was the third ball of the 19th over, when LSG fast bowler Avesh Khan bowled a full-toss around waist height to Abdul Samad of SRH. The on-field umpire called it a no-ball, but after a successful review from Lucknow Super Giants, the ball was declared legal. Both batters of Sunrisers Hyderabad were astonished at the decision as Heinrich Klaasen had an animated discussion with the on-field umpires.
The play continued as the next ball was hit by Klaasen for a boundary towards third man. But some home fans, seated behind the LSG dugout, were probably disappointed about the incident and decided to take matters into their own hands. They threw foreign objects at the players of Lucknow Super Giants, which prompted the on-field umpires to stop play and go towards the dugout to sort things out.
In the meantime, the fans were chanting the name of Virat Kohli, quite possibly aimed towards Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of LSG, who was on hand at the site of the incident. Notably, both Kohli and Gambhir were involved in a heated argument on May 1 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, when Royal Challengers Bangalore took on Lucknow Super Giants.
