‘Umpire told me it’s his discretion’: Ashwin explains what happened with the controversial wide call against Glenn Maxwell

In Rajasthan Royals’s game against RCB, Ashwin was involved in a heated moment when his delivery was called wide the umpire Michael Gough. The incident took place during the 13th over of Bangalore’s innings when Maxwell backed away moments before Ashwin’s delivery release, returning to his original stance once the ball was airborne. The Aussie batter attempted a lap shot with the ball narrowly evading his pads down the leg side, and umpire Gough promptly called a wide.
In his YouTube channel on Thursday, Ashwin commented on the episode.
“Maxi had both his legs on the wide line outside leg . As soon as I bowled, he came into the stumps and it was called wide. And when I asked Michael Gough the umpire, he told me “its my discretion”.
“When I started to run in, he [Maxwell] went outside the leg stump to that wide line and when I followed him, he came in to the stumps and had it called as a wide. I even referred it …”
Ashwin was seen debating with Gough as the third umpire consulted replays. Ashwin also had something to say about the new rule of fielding teams allowed to refer wide and no-balls.
“The reviews of wide no ball etc have come in but I feel it still has to be fine-tuned. The umpires are also trying to get used to it,” Ashwin said.