Chennai Super Kings (CSK) spinner Maheesh Theekshana caught the attention of the fans for seemingly chucking the ball to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli in the ongoing IPL 2024 clash at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, May 18.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru was put to bat first by Chennai Super Kings and the openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli gave a brisk start to their innings. The duo formed a 78-run opening partnership until Kohli was dismissed for 47 by Mitchell Santner.
However, what the caught attention was the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana, particularly where the fans pointed out a delivery to Kohli was potentially a chuck delivery. In a video that went viral on social media, Theekshana changed his bowling action and threw to ball to Virat Kohli after releasing it from his hand. The ball turned sharply and went for a wide.
Chucking the ball is an illegal bowling action in cricket. If a bowler caught throwing the ball to a batter instead of a fair delivery, then he/she will be reprimanded by the ICC or banned from using that particular bowling action. West Indies spinner Sunil Narine had to change his bowling action after he was reported by the umpires to the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Maheesh Theekshana was doing a similar bowling to that of KKR spinner Sunil Narine and it remains to be seen whether his action will be scrutinized and reported by the umpires to ICC.
RCB set 219-run target for CSK to chase
Royal Challengers Bengaluru set a hefty 219-run target for Chennai Super Kings to chase in a do-or-die in Bengaluru. CSK put RCB to bat first after skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad on the toss.
The openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis as the pair formed a 78-run stand until the latter was dismissed for 47 by Mitchell Santner. du Plessis played an innings of 54 off 39 balls until he was run out by Santner at the non-striker's end.
Rajat Patidar (41) and Cameron Green (38*) chipped in with crucial knocks while Dinesh Karthik (14) and Glenn Maxwell (16) hit a few blows in the final two overs to guide the visitors to a solid total of 218/5 in 20 overs.
For CSK, Shardul Thakur leaked 61 runs but picked two wickets in four overs while Mitchell Santner and Tushar Deshpande picked a wicket each.
