Sanjay Manjrekar, a former India cricketer, believes the third umpire made a major error in judging that Rahul Tripathi had not taken a clean catch of KL Rahul.
However, In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai, there was a huge moment. In the penultimate over, when things were becoming frantic, Rahul smacked a ball towards Tripathi at deep midwicket. The KKR fielder claimed the catch by diving full-length forward.
Therefore, The on-field officials sought the assistance of the third umpire because the fielder’s hands were touching the ground. When the catch was completed. The TV umpire determined that the ball had touched the ground and that the PBKS skipper had survived after watching multiple replays.
In response to the contentious decision, Manjrekar suggested that in the instance of low catches. The third umpire should also be given a real-time view of the action.
“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
“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
Dale Steyn
Fast bowling legend Dale Steyn of South Africa shared similar sentiments. Although he admitted that slow replays made things appear worse to the fielder. He pointed out that the real-time perspective provided a much clearer picture. Sanjay Manjrekar
“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.
Rahul smashed a key boundary in the same over after surviving the near call. PBKS won the match by five wickets despite his dismissal in the final over.
Read more: Ruturaj Gaikwad says “It’s been a great turnaround” in IPL 2021
Visit also: Simon Doull says “They had no right to have a go at Ashwin” in the IPL 2021