Watch: Local man refuses to return match ball during TNPL game

NEW DELHI: Batsmen hitting bowlers for long and big sixes is a common occurrence these days. Sometimes the ball lands in the crowd, sometimes out of the stadium.
Invariably, the ball is most of the times thrown back if it lands amongst the spectators. The ball, deemed to be lost, is most of the times replaced when it lands outside the stadium.
But have you ever seen a person not returning a match and walking away with it, and that too with utter disdain?
Yes, the unthinkable happened during the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2024 clash between Chepauk Super Gillies and Siechem Madurai Panthers at the NPR College Ground in Dindigul last Sunday.
A clip shared by Star Sports Tamil shows that a Siechem Madurai Panthers pacer bowled from the round the wicket and a left-handed Chepauk Super Gillies batter read the length, took one step out of the crease and smashed it over the mid-wicket fence.
So good was the timing that the ball went all the way out of the ground and the cameras also zoomed in looking for the ball.
The cameras show that a local man in a lungi and T-shirt is holding the ball. But to everyone’s surprise, he is no mood to throw the ball back into the ground. Not just that, he expresses his anger at the players as if saying that he has had enough of the ball coming to him and he won’t return it this time and then nonchalantly walks away with the ball, still shouting angrily towards the ground.
Later the man is also shown relaxing on a ‘charpoy’ as if nothing had happened.
As far as the match is concerned, Siechem Madurai Panthers beat Chepauk Super Gillies by 9 runs.