IPL: Worst piece of third umpiring – Swann on Rahul Tripathi’s disallowed catch
Former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir and former England international Graeme Swann hit the third umpire in the 45th match of the Indian Premier League after he did not give the decisive catch to Rahul Tripathi during the chase for the Kings of Punjab in Dubai.
The match went down to the wire as PBKS chased down 166 with 3 balls to spare and 5 wickets in hand thanks to a captain’s knock from KL Rahul.
But the result could have been different had the third umpire deemed Rahul Tripathi’s catch as legal which would have seen the back of Rahul with Punjab needing 11 from 9 balls.
The controversial moment occurred in the 19th over when Rahul hooked a short delivery from Shivam Mavi towards the mid-wicket boundary. Rahul Tripathi, who was stationed on the boundary line by Eoin Morgan, ran in to take the catch while diving forward.
Tripathi started celebrating but the on-field umpires referred it upstairs. The third umpire, after looking at multiple replays, gave it not out even though it seemed like Tripathi had got his fingers underneath the ball without it touching the ground.
The decision however, found few takers with Swann and Gambhir both criticising the third umpire after the match.
“That was the worst piece of third umpiring I have ever seen,” Swann said on Star Sports’ post-match show.
Gambhir also echoed Swann’s sentiments. “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 on the same show.
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan felt that Tripathi’s catch looked out in real time.
“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,” he said after the game.
Rahul got the reprieve and went on to score 67 off 55 balls and help earn 2 crucial points for PBKS, who moved over Mumbai Indians to be placed 5th with 10 points. They will next play Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday at Sharjah.
