Picture Credit: Twitter/IPL
The 48th match of the Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings started with RCB skipper Virat Kohli winning the toss and opting to bat first at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday. The first match of the double-header day kicked off in an emphatic fashion as Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal put up a brilliant show with the bat in the first 6 overs by adding 55 runs.
The very next over, which was bowled by Harpreet Brar, gave RCB 2 runs but what happened in the over following it definitely tarnished the image of the marquee event, courtesy of the poor umpiring that was on display at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. It was the third ball of the over bowled by Ravi Bishoi when the overall drama took place. After already playing two dot balls in the over, a desperate Padikkal went for a reverse sweep, however, he fail to connect it with perfection and wicketkeeper KL Rahul comfortably collected the ball behind the stumps and started running in joy as he felt Padikkal had nicked the ball.
The ground umpire wasn't on the same page and hence the PBKS skipper challenged the decision via review. What happened next was forgettable. Despite finding a clear spike on the snickometer, third umpire Krishnamachari Srinivasan gave the verdict in favour of the batter, adjudging it not out.
The decision was nothing less than a blunder and a visibly unsatisfied KL Rahul went to the ground umpire to discuss the same. Apparently, the umpire tried to explain to Rahul that it was a verdict given by the third umpire and he couldn't have done anything on that. Though Rahul went back to his wicketkeeping position after this, the netizens didn't spare a moment and started shooting their displeasure.