Railways protest against umpiring decisions in Ranji final

Railways cricket team manager today lodged a protest with the match referee against the "controversial" umpiring decisions on the final day of the Ranji Trophy final played at Baroda. "Some of the decisions taken by umpires during the final were clearly biased against Railways," Kamlesh Gupta told PTI on phone from Baroda.

Gupta said he had yesterday drawn the attention of the match referee towards a couple of wide ball decisions given by umpires. "I drew the attention of the referee and the matter was amicably solved and after that no controversial decisions regarding wide balls were given. Gupta said he was today forced to voice his protest in writing after the controversial dismissals of Yere Goud, Shreyas Khanolkar and Murali Kartik in Railways second innings. "All the three - Goud, Khanolkar and Kartik were definitely not out. We watched the TV replays and are convinced they were not out," Gupta said, adding, "I am not sure even whether Kulamani Parida was out".

Gupta said he had urged the referee to intervene much before Railways conceded the 21-run defeat to the hosts. However, Gupta also conceded "the referee could not do so in keeping with the code of conduct which says the game can not be interrupted in between."

While Goud was given out, caught behind by Nayan Mongia off Zaheer Khan, Khanolkar was declared leg before wicket for deliberately padding the ball. Tempers frayed when Kartik was given caught behind off Ajit Bhoite. Kartik gestured angrily at the umpire before returning to the pavilion.