Umpiring decisions set us back: Wagh

Openly expressing his frustration on the opposition team, he stated, “I am very disappointed by CM Gautam”.

Having scored 350 in their first innings, Karnataka bundled out Vidarbha for 310 in their opening essay to take a slender lead with Aravind (4/46) and Suchith (4/51) wreaking havoc.

A pitch that looked green on the surface turned out to be an unresponsive one, and that has meant a long, hard toil for the bowlers. For Vidarbha, Swapnil Bandiwar bagged two wickets. Tempers had flared too, and there were many instances when the bowlers were stopped in their run-ups because of movement near the sightscreens.

ESPNCricinfo reported the 27-year old lashing out at the Karnataka players for claiming bump catches and exerting pressure on the umpires.

Wagh was angry, furious actually. Wagh said the umpires – Pashchim Girish Pathak and Virender Kumar Sharma – were wrong with three of their decisions against the Vidarbha batsmen. Aditya Shanware’s and Shalabh Shrivastava’s catches were taken on the bounce by wicketkeeper CM Gautam. Suchithdismissed S Badrinath (92) six overs later and this put paid to thehopes of Vidarbha gaining the first innings lead. “These errors from the umpires cost us 40-50 runs”, said Wagh. I thought we bowled really well today. “That’s when the frustration comes out”, he said, just about warming up for a tirade.

“To be honest, the first three wickets of the day were not out”. We got the video footage. Ganesh was nowhere near the ball and the two catches taken by CM Gautam were taken on the bounce. “In our previous game against Delhi, poor umpiring decisions cost us an outright win”, lamented Wagh. “You can’t expect this from a champion side like Karnataka. We are shocked that he appealed against Satish, Shanware and Shalab”. “He should have said it didn’t carry”. I am sure that the Shrivastava catch was also clean. “When I was batting, it hit the pad and they appealed for caught behind, they gave it out”. “Even yesterday, mine was not out”, Gautam said. “The Shanware one was clearly out”.

Gautam, on the other hand, said the dismissals were legitimate. I was diving forward and didn’t see clearly. “They couldn’t take that, I think”. After losing the early wicket of Faiz Fazal, half-centuries from Wasim Jaffer (68), Ganesh Satish (81) and Subramanium Badrinath (92) helped guide the visitors to a commanding position of 172 for 2. We have got the evidence, that’s what I am saying. We can’t question them. I think this is coming out of frustration.