English umpire Llong in a spot after creating ruckus

After batsmen, bowlers and captains, it is the turn of an umpire to lose his cool in the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League.

English official Nigel Llong may have gotten himself into a big problem following a ruckus he created in the umpires' room at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bangalore's last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Saturday.

The incident, which has come to light now, took place during the innings break when an infuriated Llong damaged the door by kicking at it and shouted at people in the room. The Karnataka State Cricket Association confirmed the news to DH and said it will report the incident to the Board of Control for Cricket in India for "appropriate action".

The trigger for Llong's anger appears to be a chat with a senior RCB player who reportedly advised him to be focused after the ICC Elite Panel official wrongly adjudged an Umesh Yadav delivery as a no-ball for overstepping while the replays showed the paceman hadn't. The action was replayed on the giant screen at the stadium and when Umesh tried to question Llong he sternly told him off while appearing to be saying, "I know my job."

KSCA spokesman Vinay Mruthyunjaya denied hushing up the matter when asked why there was a delay in reporting it to the BCCI. "The match got over late on Saturday, and Sunday (the office) was closed for us. We took up the issue today and decided to report it to higher authorities and subsequently, we have written to BCCI, ICC and the IPL Governing Council."

KSCA secretary Sudhakar Rao termed the incident unfortunate.

"As a state association, we are duty-bound to report it and I am writing to the CoA (Committee of Administrators) today," he said. 

Mruthyunjaya also confirmed that Llong was made to "suitably" compensate for the damage caused but denied the umpire had demanded receipt against his payment.

The incident, however, has left the Indian umpires furious and many have questioned the double standards when it comes to their actions.

"I can tell you with 100% surety that if an Indian umpire had behaved like this, he would have been banned for life the next day," said an umpire on the BCCI panel.

He further drew a comparison between how S Ravi was humiliated for not spotting Lasith Malinga's no-ball against RCB and how Llong has been let off lightly for wrongly calling Umesh for overstepping.

"There are clear double standards in play here. I heard he has been made to pay, but it's not about money. It's the behaviour of an Elite Panel umpire that's a cause for concern. We are supposed to be controlling the behaviour of players but if we only behave like this, what respect can we expect from them?" he asked.

Llong had also erred in the previous match between RCB and Rajasthan Royals when he forced his view on other umpires. The match was reduced to a five-overs-a-side affair and IPL playing conditions say no bowler can bowl more than two overs for innings of rescheduled length between five and nine overs. However, Llong, it is learnt, wrongly interpreted the rule and insisted that a bowler can bowl only one over.