Former Indian cricket icon, Gautam Gambhir was dissatisfied with the third umpire Anil Dandekar for not giving Rahul Tripathi a clear catch in the match involving KKR and PBKS at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. KL Rahul, the PBKS captain, attempted an aggressive shot on the leg side but failed to achieve perfect time.
Tripathi rushed to his front and appeared to put his fingertips beneath the ball. He and the bowler, Shivam Mavi, were overjoyed after really seems to take the ball. Unfortunately, after the on-field umpires referred the decision to the 3rd umpire, they made the decision that Tripathi had grounded the catch. Following that, Punjab went on to win the match by five wickets with 3 balls left.
Considering the match, former England cricketer Graeme Swann chastised the third umpire for failing to make the correct judgment in a crucial circumstance. “That was the worst piece of third umpiring I have ever seen,” Swann.
Even if they had got KL Rahul out, things would have been different: Gambhir
Gambhir backed Swann’s views, claiming that the decision will have an impact on KKR’s IPL 2021 campaign. The lefty stated that the third umpire’s judgment was simple and that he should not have watched the replay multiple times.
“That was a shocker, this can end someone’s campaign. He shouldn’t have seen the replay more than once, it just looked out. Even if they had got KL Rahul out, things would have been different. We cannot have these kinds of shockers in the IPL,” Gambhir said.
Despite KKR’s loss, their skipper Eoin Morgan, also felt that Tripathi’s catch was very clear. “I thought in real-time that the Tripathi catch was out. But when you slow it down, the third umpire decides otherwise. We got on with it once he made his call,” Morgan said.
Rahul went on to hit 67 off 55 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes before being removed by Venkatesh Iyer in the last over. Also, he has received the ‘Player of the Match’ award as PBKS maintained their chances of reaching the playoffs alive.
