KL Rahul was left in disbelief as he was caught behind on day one of the first BGT 2024 Test between India and Australia that got underway in Perth on November 22, 2024. Jasprit Bumrah, India's captain, won the toss and chose to bat first.
India was folded for 150 runs with Josh Hazlewood taking 4 wickets, while Nitish Reddy (41) and Rishabh Pant (37) top-scoring for India. KL Rahul also made 26 runs, but his dismissal fanned a huge controversy.
Mitchell Starc bowled a delivery from over-the-wicket to KL Rahul that went across him. Rahul put his bat and pad together to play a forward defensive shot. But there was some noise heard and despite Australia’s huge appeal, the on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough gave him not out.
Australia decided to take the DRS review and after multiple replays, the TV umpire, Richard Illingworth, deemed that the ball had taken the outside edge of Rahul’s bat, despite the bat also hitting the pad.
Rahul was given out and he begrudgingly walked off the field, signaling to Kettleborough that there was a gap between the bat and the ball.
Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden, as well as former Indian batsmen Sanjay Manjrekar and Aakash Chopra, were stunned by Illingworth's decision. The veteran English cricketer, however, received support from famed umpire Simon Taufel.
Taufel touted as one of the best umpires of all time explained how third umpire Illingworth made the right call. Taufel said the spike that the ultraedge showed was off the bat hitting the ball and of the bat hitting the pads as there was a gap between the two events.
"Umpires are looking for conclusive evidence. There were a few gremlins at the start of that review, being the first Test where he didn't get some camera angles he was asking for. Richard Illingworth had a tough job there, but this camera angle is probably the best one for me, it shows that the ball does graze the outside edge.
In my view, the ball does graze the outside edge, which has caused the scuff marks, but then the bat goes on to hit the pad. So I think from a batter's perspective, they are looking to see that evidence on the big screens as the decision is made. I think that's exactly why KL Rahul has a question mark on his mind and Richard Kettleborough does as well. I imagine there will be an interesting discussion in the umpires room in the lunch break," Taufel said on Channel Seven.
"We saw with that side on shot there was a spike on RTS with the bat away from the pad; in other words, the bottom of the bat hadn't reached the pad," he said.
However, Taufel admitted that things would have been clearer, had Illingworth allowed the frame to continue, before prematurely giving KL Rahul out.
"Therefore rolling that through in its natural course, you may have seen that second spike (on Snicko, to indicate bat hitting pad) come through, had it been rolled all the way through," he added.
Meanwhile, Indian bowlers responded in kind and reduced Australia to 67/7 as Jasprit Bumrah took 4/17, Mohammed Siraj took two wickets, and debutant Harshit Rana took one wicket.
