Crowd Calls Pujara Cheater After Umpiring Howler, Twitter Divided

Benefiting from an umpiring howler, Pujara put Saurashtra on brink of a victory in the Ranji Trophy semi-final.

Cheteshwar Pujara put Saurashtra on brink of a victory with an unbeaten hundred in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka.

(Photo: PTI)

Benefiting from an umpiring howler, Cheteshwar Pujara put Saurashtra on brink of a victory with an unbeaten hundred in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka, in Bengaluru. However, when he walked out of the ground, he was received with the crowds screaming 'cheater' at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Pujara hit his 49th first class hundred and shared an unconquered 201-run fourth-wicket stand with Sheldon Jackson (90) to help his side end the fourth day at 224 for three, just 55 runs away from the victory.

The incident took place while Pujara – then batting on 34 – had pushed one from Vinay Kumar to edge it to wicketkeeper Shrinivas Sharath, but umpire turned down the appeal.

Vinay Kumar could not believe his luck and was left fuming and frustrated, considering that Pujara's is a prized scalp.

The TV replays clearly showed that Pujara had edged it, but it was not Karnataka's day as the match slipped out of their hands after that.

Twitter Divided: Should Pujara Have Walked When Not Given Out?

While the spectators at the stadium were clearly not pleased with Pujara’s decision to stay back at the crease when not given out, Twitterati was divided about the same.

Some felt that in keeping with the spirit of sportsmanship, the batsman should have walked back to the hut despite not being given out.

But there was still a bunch, who believed it was alright for Pujara not to have walked back.