Cricketer turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar reckons the third umpire erred big time by concluding that Rahul Tripathi had not taken a clean catch of the PKBS skipper KL Rahul on Friday.
This incident happened during the 18th over of the match which caused controversy and has left the Internet in shock. Rahul Tripathi pulled off a stunning catch and claimed for a caught dismissal of KL Rahul at the mid-wicket boundary. The on-field umpires referred the decision to the third umpire. After watching numerous replays, the third umpire controversially deemed it a not-out.
Reacting to the controversial decision made by the third empire, Sanjay Manjrekar suggested “in case of low catches, the third umpire must be given a real-time view of the action as well.”
“When it comes to low catches, especially in the deep, the third umpire must insist on having a look at a real-time replay. There was one very good angle that we saw in slow motion but in real-time you get a very good idea of whether that’s a clean catch or not. When you slow it down, the whole thing becomes very grainy and complicated,” Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo.
“It was a clean catch. No one was left in doubt. That was inexperience and inexcusable (from the umpire) in a way at this level when there is so much at stake. For low catches, you have to be given the option of real-time replay and the scenario would have been completely different,” he added.
“I thought it was a clean catch” – Dale Steyn echoes Sanjay Manjrekar’s words
Former South African fast bowler Dale Styne had similar views as Sanjay Manjrekar. He said although slow replays showed that the ball had touched the ground but i changed my mind when I saw it in real time.
“I looked up and they were showing replays of it. They had slowed it down and I saw the ball, kind of, press on the floor. Immediately I thought, that is not out. Then I watched it in real-time and he just looked like he had it, the way he picked up his hands. I am going without. It happens so quickly that if you slow things down for long enough, you start finding things that are actually not there. I thought it was a clean catch,” Steyn opined.
With been given not-out by the third empire, KL Rahul had all the license to go after the bowler and hit a crucial boundary at third man. KL was later dismissed in the last over by Shubman Gill taking a clean catch at the Long-off boundary off Iyer’s bowling. PKBS earned 2 crucial points to stay in contingent for qualifying for the IPL 2021 playoffs.