Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19: Naman Ojha has ugly altercation with umpire in game against Delhi

There have been instances of ugly argument and even fighting in India’s domestic cricket. In 1990-91, for instance, the final of the Duleep Trophy was a witness to a horrendous physical clash between Rashid Patel and the late Raman Lamba over bowling a beamer. In January this year, Hyderabad captain Ambati Rayudu was handed a two-match suspension for arguing with the umpires in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Karnataka.

The latest such ugly instance on the ground involved Madhya Pradesh captain Naman Ojha who engaged in a spat with the on-field umpire over a decision in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the proceedings remained stopped as a result for 20 minutes.

Reversing decision against Delhi batsman left Ojha livid

It all happened in MP’s game against Delhi at Palam A Stadium, New Delhi, in which the home team won the toss and elected to bat. The controversy erupted when Nitish Rana, who hit a century in the game, was given out on a strong appeal from the fielding side. However, the decision was reversed after the batsman dissented and this led to a strong protest from the MP side, led by Ojha. The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman was seen arguing with the umpires furiously, making things worse at the venue.

An ABP News journalist who was present in the ground tweeted about the incident later and also added that a national selector was present at the match.

Rana’s innings helped Delhi score 284 for 8 in 50 overs thanks to 67 from Dhruv Shorey and a couple of 41 from openers Unmukt Chand and Gautam Gambhir, though the latter – Delhi’s skipper – did it at better-than-a-ball rate.

MP had a poor chase after the openers put up 29 runs for the first wicket. Ojha was the first wicket to fall on eight and barring a 76 run partnership for the sixth wicket between Venkatesh Iyer (53) and Saransh Jain (47), there was nothing much to write about the MP innings and the visitors were all out for 209 in 42.4 overs.

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