Shai Hope holding Sanju Samson's contentious catch at the boundary was the biggest talking point in the IPL 2024 match between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday (May 7).

Samson was anchoring the Royals to a comprehensive win at 86 runs off 46 balls while chasing the mammoth target of 222 runs. However, his innings was cut short by Mukesh Kumar after he tried to hit the pacer over long-on but was caught by Hope, millimetres before the boundary ropes.

TV umpire Michael Gough checked a couple of angles without finding evidence of Hope's boots coming in contact with the boundary rope, with the decision given as out.

However, Samson did not look pleased with the decision and was involved in a heated argument with the umpires.

After the game, Kumar Sangakkara, the director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals, said that it was a difficult decision to judge for the third umpire.

Sangakkara further stated that his team should have won the match despite the controversial dismissal of Samson.

"It depends on replays and angles; sometimes you think the foot has touched. It is a difficult one for third umpire to judge. The game was at a crucial stage; what happens in cricket is you have different perspectives. At the end of the day, you have to abide by the decision third umpire has made,” said Sangakkara in the post-match press conference.

"If we have some other kind of opinion, we will share and sort it out with the umpires. Irrespective of that dismissal, we should have won the game. But Delhi played really well and fought till the end. They were very smart with their bowling at the back-end," he added.

Later on, Sanju Samson was fined 30 per cent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct, which talks about expressing dissent at a decision made by the umpires.

“On-field umpires have to go by what TV umpire say. At the end of the day, all the players have to abide by it. There's a lot of pressure out in the middle on players and officials, so we try to sort it out the best way we can,” Sangakkara remarked.

After Samson’s dismissal, RR kept losing wickets at regular intervals and their innings was eventually restricted to 201/8 in 20 overs.

Despite the defeat, the Royals remained at the second position in the 10-team points table.