Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly Lose Cool At Umpires Over Rajasthan Royals' Usage Of Impact Player Rule - Watch

The 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash between the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Delhi Capitals (DC) taking place on Thursday (March 28) at the Sawai Mansigh Stadium in Jaipur saw tensions rise as the Capitals' head coach Ricky Ponting and director of cricket Sourav Ganguly were not happy with how the Royals' used the impact player rule and alleged that their opponents used five overseas players in the game.

For those unfamiliar, even with the impact player rule, a team is only allowed to field a maximum of four overseas players in the XI. As far as today's match is concerned, RR had named just three overseas players in their original XI after being asked to bat following DC skipper Rishabh Pant's decision to bowl first on winning the toss.

With RR batting first, their playing XI featured just three overseas players in the form of Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, and Trent Boult. However, their five substitutes included Nandre Burger and Rovman Powell, and with one overseas spot vacant in the XI; they could be used as an impact sub.

Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly Lose Cool At Umpires
Ponting and Ganguly lost their cool at the umpires at the start of RR's innings after Powell came in as a substitute fielder. Meanwhile, they used Burger as the impact player, as he took Hetmyer's place in the XI. However, Ponting and Ganguly complained to the umpires that the Royals used five overseas players.

However, it is worth pointing out that no rules were broken by RR as they had only three overseas players in their XI at the time, despite Burger coming in as he had taken the place of an overseas player. This meant that Powell, as a substitute fielder, was only one of four overseas players on the field at the time, and no rules were broken.

Talking about the match, RR posted a total of 185, with Riyan Parag playing a stunning knock of 84 in 45 balls. The 2008 champions lost three early wickets, but Ravichandran Ashwin changed the momentum of the game after being promoted up the batting order with a quick-fire knock of 29 in 19 balls. Dhurv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer played quick-fire cameos with knocks of 20 in 12 balls and 14 in 7, respectively.

In reply, David Warner gave DC a solid platform with a 34-ball 49, with Rishabh Pant giving him solid company, making 28 runs and 25 balls. However, the visitors have fallen behind the asking rate after their dismissals.