Another one-sided match in Betway SA20, and fans can’t hold their horses. Some have even complained that there is something fishy about the league, and at worst, Betway SA20 can be fixed.
In more than 30 matches that were played in this tournament, only 4-5 matches were competitive. In the rest of the games, only one side dominated the game from start to the end. Even in the final, Durban Super Giants didn’t look in the game for a single over given the situation.
Batting first, the Sunrisers scored 204 and defended the score by 89 runs, bowling out the Super Giants for 115 runs in 17 overs. So the final as it was remained nothing exciting or interesting for fans.
However, it was not only one-sided affairs that provoked the fans to call the game rigged. A few days ago between a match between Joburg Super Kings and Paarl Royals, spinner Tabraiz Shamsi bowled 4 no-balls.
Even in yesterday’s match, in the 7th over, Maharaj took a brilliant catch but unfortunately, it was deemed unclean and according to some fans, there was clear evidence that the ball was clearly taken by Maharaj.
Even the official account of Durban Super Giants posted that screenshot of the catch on platform X. Another event that came into notice was, in the 17th over, it sounded like Tristan Stubbs had nicked the ball behind but there was no appeal from Quinton de Kock or bowler Reece Topley.
On another occasion, the umpire, who usually takes time to make his mind about close decisions, things went different yesterday. When the Super Giants came to bat, the umpire raised his finger twice on appeal.
It didn’t look good because on one occasion, the ball was missing the stumps by some margin and on another, it was just shaving the leg stump.
Fans weren’t too happy about such decisions. The controversy also came to the surface when between a match between Paarl Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, all types of unusual things happened.
The Royals conceded 84 runs in the last 4 overs, and it appeared that Obed McCoy and Lungi Ngidi were deliberately bowling wide balls and no balls. Clearly, fans weren’t too happy about it.
There were many posts on platform X by cricket fans who showed their discontent with the way things were happening in Betway SA20. Some fans also tagged ICC to look into this league. Others said, South Africa has a history of keeping things unusual in cricket.