Phil Salt’s catch on the boundary line in the opening game of the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad sparked controversy at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. The incident took place in the 14th over of the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings after put into bat by rival skipper Rajat Patidar.
After Sunrisers Hyderabad lost Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Nitish Reddy inside the powerplay, it was Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen who rescued the 2016 champions with a 97-run stand for the fourth wicket. However, it was the Romario Shepherd over that brought the drama in.
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Klaasen, who was batting at 31 off 20 balls, looked to clobber a Shepherd off-cutter over deep mid-wicket. However, the South African didn’t get the required elevation as the ball started to dip at the boundary line. Salt, who was just a thread away from the rope, seemed to fumble a bit but held on the catch. With the umpires in doubt, the decision was sent upstairs.
While it looked like Salt touched the covering with naked eye, third umpire Rohan Pandit’s decision to rule Klaasen out without looking at all the angles sparked controversy. A top angle shot could have given Pandit the best view. Klaasen looked unhappy with the decision as he had a brief word with the fourth umpire before accepting his fate.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan took lashed out at the fourth umpire, stating how can he give Klaasen out without checking all the angles. “Looked to me like the foot had touched the boundary sponge to me … that’s a big call for RCB,” Vaughan wrote on X (formerly twitter).
“Not sure how you can give that out and be absolutely sure no part of the foot touched the sponge .. and the sponge moved .. a bit of a giveaway..,” added Vaughan. Klaasen walked back for 31 off 22 balls, including two fours and one six as Sunrisers Hyderabad put 201/9 in 20 overs.
Fans lash out at fourth umpire
“Umpiring Blunder or Intentional? Why was only ONE angle shown when there are 50+ cameras on the field? The one angle they provided literally shows Phil Salt touching the boundary rope. Absolute clownery in a high-stakes game,” reacted one user.
“How the hell is that OUT given by the 3rd umpire????? It was clearly touching the ropes. Even Sunil Gavaskar called it out on commentary, he clearly said it looked like Phil Salt had touched the cushion. The third umpire didn’t even bother checking multiple angles, just rushed the call off one view. At this level, that’s not just poor officiating, it’s outright embarrassing,” another said.
RCB start title defense with a win
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli smashed an unbeaten 38-ball 69 and Devdutt Padikkal a 61 as defending champions RCB defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets. Stand-in skipper Ishan Kishan led Sunrisers Hyderabad from the front with a 38-ball 80 after his side was reduced to 29/3 in the fifth over. Ankit Verma chipped in 43 off just 18 balls.
In reply, defending champions RCB completed the chase in 15.4 overs. Devdutt Padikkal (61 off 26 balls), Kohli and Rajat Patidar (31 off 12 balls) were the chief contributors with the bat for RCB. Debutant Jacob Duffy was the best bowler for RCB, returning excellent figures of 3/22 in four overs.
