ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: Top 10 Controversies

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has concluded and England were crowned the champions. The tournament was action packed and no short of drama. Here is a pick of the top controversial moments from the 2019 Cricket World Cup-

1. The final showdown: England vs New Zealand-

To think that the final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 had one of the biggest debates makes you wonder how dramatically the tournament concluded. Umpiring howlers surrounded the World Cup finals. England vs New Zealand was going into a the most gripping of conclusions along with The Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

To start with, a few umpiring decisions caught the eye of the viewers. Kumar Dharmasena gave Ross Taylor lbw when the ball was clearly going over the stumps. New Zealand, unfortunately had lost their review. In fact Kumar Dharmasena’s presence in the World Cup final ahead of Aleem Dar was questioned after his mistake in the semi-finals on Jason Roy’s dismissal.

Then even before anyone could start believing what they had just seen, the decision to adjudge England as the winner didn’t go well with the fans and experts. The topic is still being discussed heavily in the cricketing world and The ICC is still under huge criticism for the rules.

After the match, few more umpiring errors surfaced after former umpire Simon Taufel shed light over the overthrow incident involving Ben Stokes. The confusion among the umpires gave England six runs instead of five which was ultimately the difference between the two teams if there was any.

2. Political agenda brought into the World Cup-

Unknown air crafts with threatening political messages flew over the stadium during match days. This happened on three occasions in spite of ICC’s measures and BCCI’s warnings. There were two messages on Balochistan issue in surrounding Pakistan & Afghanistan and one on Kashmir issue in India. The India vs Sri Lanka, Pakistan vs Afghanistan and England vs Australia matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup saw these banners fly over the grounds.

https://twitter.com/saketh95/status/1149295857516236801

3. Kumar Dharmasena – Jason Roy issue:

In the second semi-final between England and Australia, Kumar Dharmasena adjudged Jason Roy out and signaled a review forgetting that England had used up their reviews. Dharmasena later had explain a furious Roy to leave. This led Roy showing dissent on the Sri Lankan umpire. They later met in the finals with a hug and a smile.

4. MS Dhoni’s gloves-

There was a huge uproar in the social media when MS Dhoni wasn’t allowed to use the gloves with an emblem on it. It was not permitted according to ICC rules and Dhoni had to change it. Fans though, didn’t take it kindly and there was a huge debate on Dhoni’s gloves.

5.Pakistan Afghanistan fans clash-

Just before the Pakistan vs Afghanistan match in the league stage, the fans entering into the stadium. There were also fights within the stadium. Headingley, that day saw fights errupt among fans of both sides.

6. Smith & Warner boos-

Steve Smith and David Warner were back after serving a ban for ball tampering scandal and the fans were hostile enough to let their feelings known against the duo. The duo were constantly booed when they came out to bat and chants of “cheater” could also be heard when Smith came out to bat. Before their match against India, Indian captain Virat Kohli slammed the crowd for jeering them and asked the crowd to be more respectful.

7. Pakistan partying before India’s match?

India trashed Pakistan by 89 runs in a rain affected match. There were questions raised about the Pakistan players’ fitness after photos and videos of them partying went viral on social media. Pakistani players claimed that the videos were from two days before the match.

8. Rohit Sharma’s dismissal against West Indies-

Rohit Sharma was given not out by the on field umpire to a Kemar Roach delivery before West Indies decided to review the decision. The third umpire gave Rohit Sharma out, much to his surprise. He was left shattered and was sure he hadn’t nicked it. This, once again, sparkled the ‘use of technology’ debate on twitter.

9. Chris Gayle out to a Free Hit-

Chasing a target of 289, Chris Gayle was out to a Mitchell Starc inswinger. What the umpires failed to spot was that the ball before Gayle’s dismissal was a huge no-ball and hence the wicket ball should have been a free hit. The match also saw the West Indians overturn three umpiring decisions. Michael Holding, who was commentating, said, “The umpiring in this game has been atrocious. “Watching the captain Jason Holder successfully survive another umpiring miss via DRS, the 65-year-old added, “You don’t appeal two, three, four times to the umpire. They are being intimidated which means they are weak.

10. Bails refusing to dislodge-

This has been an issue since the introduction of the glowing bails. The World Cup again saw In this World Cup, Quinton de Cock, Chris Gayle, Dimuth Karunaratne, David Warner and Mohammad Saifuddin were the batsmen that benefited from the bails.