Kolkata Knight Riders have undoubtedly been one of the most entertaining teams in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 so far, having been involved in some thrilling matches. After losing out a nail-biter against Chennai Super Kings while defending, Eoin Morgan's side had a chance to redeem themselves with a better display on the field against Punjab Kings on Friday. While they missed a few catches which took the match away from them, there was one moment when it looked like the catch was taken cleanly but the third umpire thought otherwise.
It all happened in the 19th over of the innings when KL Rahul smashed a ball off Shivam Mavi towards the mid-wicket region. Rahul Tripathi came running towards it and put on a brilliant dive to complete a remarkable catch. It looked like a fair catch from the naked eye but the decision was referred to the third umpire.
Was that out or not-out?
As the replays flashed on big screen, the third umpire - Anil Dandekar - was presented with 4-5 angles to make a decision. There was hardly any angle which showed the ball touching the ground as Tripathi had his fingers underneath the ball. But much to everyone's surprise, the third umpire deemed it as not out claiming that he could see the ball in contact with the ground.
It was a crucial moment in the game as KL Rahul survived and hit a significant boundary couple of deliveries later to put Punjab Kings in the driving seat. Eventually, Shahrukh Khan completed the job as PBKS won the match by 5 wickets, with 3 balls remaining.
Talking about the incident after the match, former England off-spinner Graeme Swann said, "The third umpire looked at it from various angles and it looked out from all. It's terrible umpiring." Former KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir also expressed his displeasure on the decision and admitted that it was a shocker. "These kind of shockers can't happen at this level in IPL," added Gambhir.
The netizens were also very disappointment with the decision as they flooded Twitter with posts around the same, claiming that Rahul Tripathi was robbed of what could have been one of the best catches of the season.
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