Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has slammed the third umpire for his inexcusable call of concluding that Rahul Tripathi had not taken a clean catch of KL Rahul on Friday. The incident happened during the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) match of IPL 2021 on Friday, October 1, 2021.
There was a massive moment in match number 45 of IPL 2021 when in the penultimate over of the match, Rahul smashed a ball towards Tripathi at deep midwicket. The KKR fielder dived full-length forward and claimed the catch. Since the fielder’s hands were touching the ground when the catch was completed, the on-field officials sought the third umpire’s help.
Despite seeing numerous replays from different angles, the TV umpire concluded that the ball had touched the ground and the PBKS captain survived.
“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 during a discussion on ESPNCricinfo when talking about the catch.
The former batter described the verdict as inexcusable and added: “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.”
Having survived the close call, Rahul hit a crucial boundary in the same over. Though he was dismissed in the last over, PBKS won the match by five wickets.
Furthermore, Manjrekar said a soft signal from the on-field umpire would have helped the 3rd umpire in making a better decision. The IPL organizers have done away with the use of soft signals in the tournament.
“There are instances when a catch is taken in the deep and the umpire has a fair idea but he’s not 100 percent sure, so he goes for a soft signal. But then the guy who is taking the final call needs to have conclusive evidence. Soft signal is a guide and it has been treated as a guide. When you have an instance when a third umpire isn’t able to make up his mind... what happens if you are not able to give the third umpire great replays? Soft signal is just an add-on to reduce errors,” he said.
(ESPNCricinfo inputs)
