Chennai Super Kings opener Devon Conway couldn’t ask for a DRS review after an on-field LBW call against him because of a rare power cut at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 12. The incident saw him fail to take the referral even as the ball appeared to be going down the leg side.
It happened in the very first over of CSK’s marquee encounter against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians. Facing left-arm pacer Daniel Sams, Conway received a ball that thumped onto his pads, leading to a loud LBW shout from the entire MI fielding unit.
Umpire Chirra Ravikanthreddy felt the New Zealand international was found plumb in front after his attempted flick through on-side went wrong and raised his finger. But for those watching, it was clear that the ball was shaping to go down leg side and potentially miss the stumps on the projected path.
The option for Conway to see that projected path on hawkeye and for the television umpire to verify the on-field call, however, was taken away by a strange power cut, which meant the DRS technology could not work for the initial overs of the CSK-MI game.
In what was essentially a knock-out encounter for Chennai, who had to win to stay in the playoffs race, they lost their rampaging opening batter for just one run and saw MI take an early footing in the game. CSK were eventually bundled out for only 97 and lost the match by five wickets.
Making his return to CSK’s playing XI for the back half of the competition, Conway had produced three back to back half-centuries before being done by the lack of availability of the DRS technology in a must-win game.
Curiously, while the floodlights at the stadium were on after the electricity came back, the power cut was still effective for the DRS equipment and technology put to use. Later on Twitter, renowned commentator and broadcaster Harsha Bhogle explained why that was the case.
