Qalandars fume over ‘unfair’ umpires’ call

SHARJAH: The third edition of HBL Pakistan Super League has been more or less incident-free but on Friday night there was a little controversy when Lahore Qalandars questioned the standard of umpiring in the T20 league.

The Qalandars, who crashed to their fourth consecutive defeat in PSL 3, were left fuming after losing their match against Islamabad United from a seemingly winning position.

They questioned the umpires’ decision to disallow vice captain Fakhr Zaman from taking a review after the big-hitter was trapped leg before for a duck at a time when Lahore needed him in its run-chase.

Later, Sameen Rana, Lahore’s manager, told reporters that when Fakhar requested a review after falling to Sumit Patel but was told by the umpires that the review had already been used by Umar Akmal.

“Some decisions didn’t go good for us. When Fakhar Zaman was adjudged LBW, he wanted to take a review but umpires told him that [he didn’t] have any review left,” the manager said.

“When we clarified to them [about the rules of the review being retained], they agreed that a review was available but, by that time, Fakhar was out of the ground,” he added.

“This isn’t an excuse but it was unfair; if you lose a batsman like Fakhar, then it hurts the team,” he said.

“I think the PCB should also see [that] if these things are happening, the rules on DRS (Decision Review System) should be clarified.

“Fakhar was clearly not out. Umpires can make mistakes but if you are told at that moment that you have no reviews left, then that’s very, very unfair,” he lamented.