Livid Vijay fined 10 per cent of match fee

Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay was fined 10 per cent of his match fee for dissent during the opening day of a Ranji Trophy Group B encounter against Karnataka here at the NPR College ground on Monday.

A largely quiet day came alive in the final over before tea when R Ashwin was bowling to Karnataka middle-order batsman Pavan Deshpande, who was batting on 56. The pitch, which hardly troubled the batsmen in the morning session, began to offer slight turn and Ashwin was turning out to be a headache for the Karnataka batsmen.

On the third ball of the 70th over, Deshpande missed while fishing outside off stump and wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan appealed vociferously after pouching the ball. It was evident that Ashwin was slow to react and was compelled to appeal only after seeing his wicketkeeper's reaction.

The Tamil Nadu team, that put the pressure on umpire Nitin Pandit to lift the finger, stood in disbelief. Things only turned dramatic in the fifth ball when Ashwin beat Deshpande again and Tamil Nadu players began celebrating prematurely for a caught behind dismissal.

Vijay was the most convinced and appeared most livid when it was turned down. The India discard charged towards the umpire and exchanged words in anger. It took square leg umpire Anil Dandekar's intervention to bring things under control. Dandekar had a chat with Vijay and literally dragged him back to his position in the slips.

While bowler Ashwin remained calm, it was unbecoming of a senior international player to disrespect the umpire. The Tamil Nadu management confirmed that Vijay was fined for his act.

"It's part and parcel of the game. Players reacted in the heat of the moment," said Tamil Nadu coach D Vasu, justifying his players' reaction. But such was Vijay's disappointing behaviour that even if it was in jest, Vasu implied that the right-handed opener deserved the punishment. "Even if I was the match referee I would have summoned him," he said with a chuckle.

Vasu felt to avoid such ambiguities, technology should help umpires in domestic cricket. "Small things can make a difference in cricket. If there is money and if there is technology available then why not?. Eventually, good or bad decisions, we have to take it in our stride and move on," he said.