During the England vs Australia semifinal Kumar Dharmasena and Jason Roy were involved in a controversial spat. As it turned out, Jason Roy had been given out by the Sri Lankan umpire, which was the wrong decision. England appealed the decision and Dharmasena signalled for a review. Unfortunately, he had forgotten that England had already used their review, but the Australians didn’t
They indicated the same and Roy was none too pleased with the reversal and made his feelings clear. The stump mic picked up Roy muttering and calling the decision “f**king embarrassing”. As a result, Jason Roy was slapped with a fine of 30% of his match fee and 2 demerit points. He was fortunate to escape a ban as he only accumulated 3 points, while four would result in the ban.
via Imago
Jason Roy and Kumar Dharmasena hug it out
However, Dharmasena is back again, officiating in the ICC Cricket World Cup final, to the fans’ chagrin. The good news is, Jason Roy has forgiven and forgotten, as he and Dharmasena shared a hug before the match began.
In all honesty, Roy was a very lucky to escape with just a slap to the wrist. Dharmasena is a highly respected umpire and he has won the ICC’s Umpire of the Year award twice – in 2012 and 2018. For now, England and New Zealand are squaring off in order to win their maiden ICC Cricket World Cup. They saw off challenges from former champions, Australia and India respectively.
