VIDEO | Carlos Brathwaite and Lendl Simmons indulge in heated verbal argument after bizarre run-out appeal

10/07/2019

From sublime bowling spells to stupendous knocks to superhuman catches, CPL 2019 has been a cricket fan's delight so far. But the 'eliminator' on Sunday provided everyone with the most controversial moment of the season with Brathwaite and Simmons indulging in an animated, heated verbal argument.

Cricket, despite proudly wearing the cap of being a "Gentleman's Game", has always had its fair share of fights and controversies which at times have crossed the line and gone ugly. From the fight between Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee back then to more recently the Marlon Samuels - Shane Warne and Wahab Riaz - Ahmed Shehzad fights, things have sometimes been outstretched and have ended up leaving a bitter taste on the mouth of the viewers.

And while Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2019 has been full of thrills and chills, on Sunday, it provided a major talking point, a moment of controversy involving three West Indian players - Carlos Brathwaite, Denesh Ramdin and Lendl Simmons.

Chasing a modest target of 126, Trinbago Knight Riders were reeling at 35-3 off 7 overs, with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots bowlers strangling them. On the first ball of the eighth over, Fabian Allen bowled a good-length delivery to Ramdin, who flicked the ball towards square. The two batsmen were satisfied with a single and after the ball was "dead", Ramdin, who was now at the non-strikers' end, touched his bat down and walked to the middle to have a chat with his partner Simmons, assuming that the ball was dead.

However, the Patriots' skipper Brathwaite, who was unhappy with the chatter between the batsmen, took the bails off at the non-stikers' end and asked the umpire for a run-out. The umpire instantly dismissed the appeal, noting that the ball was dead, but a furious Brathwaite was not having any of it.

After an altercation with the umpire, Brathwaite indulged in an argument with Ramdin. However, in the middle of the argument, Simmons stepped in from the other end and things got ugly after that. The duo of Brathwaite and Simmons got into an extremely heated, aggressive argument and exchanged verbal blows with each other and it got to the point where the umpire and players had to step in to separate the two.

The umpire then had a lengthy chat with Brathwaite and after a long delay, the two teams finally got on with the game. Things finally cooled down after wicket-keeper Devon Thomas had some light-hearted banter with the batsmen in the middle and eventually, Knight Riders went on to win the game by six wickets.