WPL | Edwards questions umpiring calls as MI fall short against DC in controversial finish

Vadodara: Taking a dig at the controversial run-out decisions that played a big role in her team's last-ball, two-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians coach Charlotte Edwards said it was "really hard" to comprehend such calls that affect the eventual outcome of the match.

Three controversial run-out decisions sparked a debate as Delhi Capitals edged past MI in a WPL match on Saturday, raising concerns over the interpretation of the LED stump rules.

Third umpire Gayathri Venugopalan ruled three DC batters -- Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy and Shikha Pandey -- not out, seemingly disregarding the moment the LED stumps first lit up after the ball made initial contact with the wickets.

"You’ve got to stay pretty calm. It is really hard when there're many decisions to go to the third umpire. The result of the game is looking at the big screen," said Edwards, the two-time World Cup-winning England skipper, after MI's narrow defeat.

"It's pretty hard. I’ve played the game and been around the game to know...it's the game and we just have to move on. We look forward to playing here on Tuesday," she added.

While commentating on the match, former India captain Mithali Raj also had observed that decisions on Arundhati and Radha Yadav should have gone in MI’s favour.

The WPL 2025 rules state that a wicket is considered broken at the first frame when the LED stumps light up, but in all three cases here, the umpire made decisions based on a second frame when the bails were fully dislodged.

The first controversy surfaced in the 18th over when Pandey’s bat was on the crease line as the LED stumps lit up, but the umpire ruled not out based on the second frame. However, she was run out for two in the next over.

But decisions with far bigger ramifications followed.

In the 19th over, Radha dived and he bat was still up in the air when the stumps were first illuminated, but the third considered the next frame where the bat was grounded when the bails were fully dislodged to give the batter not out.

A similar decision in the final ball of the 20th over saw Arundhati deemed safe despite her bat being on the crease line when the LED lights on the stumps first flashed, as the DC batter was running in for the second run.

The decisions worked in favour of DC, as Radha (nine not out) Arundhati (two not out) secured a dramatic last-ball win.

MI skipper Harmanpreet Kaur looked frustrated but did not formally protest.

Former RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson also expressed his disbelief over the umpire's decision.

"Not sure why the umpire tonight has decided that the zinger bails are not applicable? Once bails lights up connection is lost therefore the wicket is broken! That is in the playing conditions! Have seen more confusion in the last 10 mins than ever before," he posted on X.

Earlier, Nat Sciver-Brunt remained unbeaten on 80, dominating alongside Harmanpreet (42), before DC recaptured the momentum to restrict former champions to 164.

Edwards rued the fact that they could not add a few more runs in the backend of the innings.

"It was actually hard when a big partnership like that of Harman (Harmanpreet Kaur) and Nat (sciver-brunt) was broken. They were making it look easy, weren't they? Potentially that didn't help. I think the runout of (Amelia) Kerr was a massive point in this game.

"We should have gotten to 180+, which we didn’t, and that hurt us in the end. Shafali (Verma) played brilliantly. But that’s T20 cricket," she observed.

"There will be a lot of stuff I’d want the team to continue to do, just a few areas where we need to sharpen up, which we’ll do over the next couple of days. Looking forward to our game against Gujarat," said Edwards who guided them to the title in the inaugural WPL in 2023.

Veteran Shikha who started Mumbai’s slide removing openers Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia, lauded the team effort.

"We are still not at full strength and have some superstars who couldn’t play today. And to get a team like MI which is paying on full strength all out was amazing," she said.