Picture Credit: Twitter
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer is back at his hilarious best with yet another meme as he trolled umpire Kumar Dharamasena prior to England's T20 World Cup semifinal match against New Zealand. Notably, Dharamasena was one of the two on-field umpires when the same two teams had met in the 2019 ODI World Cup final where New Zealand were denied a World Cup trophy on the basis of the now-withdrawn boundary count rule.
"Hey Kumar, what time does the match start tonight?" Jaffer captioned a picture of the Sri Lankan umpire from that World Cup final where he decided to award England's Ben Stokes four overthrows after the ball deflected off his bat and went to the boundary. Dharamasena had signalled six runs (two runs completed plus the four overthrows) which is the local time for the start of the match at Abu Dhabi.
Check out Wasim Jaffer's tweet here:
The call from Dharamasena eventually saw England complete their 50 overs in exactly the same number of overs as New Zealand and when later they were called for a one-over eliminator yet again the teams scored the exact number of runs. However, England were crowned champions by virtue of hitting more boundaries, which was the rule at that point in time.
Given the history of that match, many are backing New Zealand to take avenge for that heartbreaking defeat in this game. Both the sides have won four of their five matches in ther Super 12 round to reach the semifinals. While the Three Lions faced a defeat against South Africa in their last league match, New Zealand have won each of their last four matches after facing a defeat to Pakistan in their first.
Pakistan and Austalia are set to meet in the second semifinal at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. Although Australia too have won four matches and lost one, the Men in Green are the only side to have won each of their five matches of Super 12 to proceed to the final four.
The final of the tournament is set to be staged on Sunday, November 14, in Dubai.