IPL 2019: Finding ball from the Mango Box

Mumbai: Spectators and commentators were surprised when the bowler, the captain and others were searching for a ball, which the umpire C. Shamsuddin had forgotten that it was kept in his pocket before the break.

It happened during the recent IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore.

The comical incident, however, has not happened for the first time, according to Marcus Couto, the retired BCCI umpire.

Speaking exclusively, he says, "the late umpire A.M.Mamsa did tell us the incident when his fellow umpire had forgotten the ball in the dressing room. It did happen to me also when I forgot to carry the ball which was kept on our table at the tea interval. After coming on to the ground I realized it and summoned one of the fielders quietly and bring it from our room".         

"Then on wards I made a habit of keeping the ball and other umpiring tools under the hat on the table in the dressing room", Couto, who has served the Indian umpiring for 25 years, added.  

"There is an incident where the umpire had left the ball in the hotel".

Recalling the other funny incident, he says, "the ball was recovered from the refrigerator. It happened at Jamshedpur. The BCCI office had sent the balls in a mango box and when the secretary was busy at the ground, his wife thought some mangoes have come and he kept the box in the freeze. Later on, when the secretary inquired with the BCCI office in Mumbai (Bombay then) the ball could be found in a mango box".

"Once Piloo Reporter was umpiring with me in a local match and discovered that some different ball is being used in between the game. He called me to chat in between and over and was rubbing his feet on the ground. I then realized that he was not rubbing his feet on the ground but was also making the ball look a like the old one".