“They Hit On The Head”: Jonty Rhodes’ Startling Revelation From Hyderabad Crowd Chaos

Crowd trouble marred Lucknow Super Giants’ impressive victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) clash on Saturday. As a few decisions went against SRH on the field, fans turned rogue and started to throw objects on the field, prompting the match to come to a halt for a brief interval. After a report claimed that nuts and bolts were thrown at the LSG dugout by fans, the franchise’s fielding coach Jonty Rhodes revealed that one of the object hit their player Prerak Mankad on the head.

“Not at the dugout, but at the players. They hit Prerak Mankad on the head while he was fielding at long on. #noton,” Rhodes wrote on Twitter, reacting to the report.

Not at the dugout, but at the players. They hit Prerak Mankad on the head while he was fielding at long on. #noton https://t.co/4yxmuXh7ZF

— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) May 13, 2023

The altercation began when the third umpire decided to deny SRH’s Abdul Samad a waist-high no-ball against LSG’s Avesh Khan in the third ball of the 19th over.

Initially, the on-field umpire deemed it as a no-ball but, LSG decided to review the decision. The matter went to the third umpire and he decided to overturn the initial decision which enraged the fans as well as SRH batter Heinrich Klaasen. The South African batter went to the umpire to protest against the decision in an animated fashion.

As everybody on the field started to process the decision, LSG members were seen pointing at the crowd. The actual incident that provoked the fans has not been revealed but reports emerged that fans threw nuts and bolts at the LSG dugout.

The game was halted and there are reports that the on-field umpire had to run all the way to the dugout and try to calm down things. Andy Flower was seen having a chat with the umpire as well. Things started to get ugly as de Kock and Klaasen, the two South Africans were having a chat.

During the mid-innings interview, Klaasen shared his disappointment regarding the decision as well as the way the crowd reacted to the decision.

“Disappointed of the crowd to be honest, that’s not what you want. That also broke the momentum, not great umpiring either,” Klassen said after the first innings.

With ANI inputs