TV umpire’s decision to give Dinesh Karthik not out stirred a controversy in the Eliminator match of the IPL 2024 between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Wednesday (May 22).

During the 15th over of RCB’s innings, Avesh Khan bowled a full and straight delivery that struck Karthik’s pads and the on-field umpire quickly raised his finger.

After consulting with his batting partner Mahipal Lomror, Karthik opted for a review. While there was a big spike on UltraEdge, it was hard to determine if the bat hit the pad or the ball.

However, third umpire was convinced that there was bat involved and the decision was overturned, giving Karthik a lifeline.  

The decision though left the commentators and cricket experts shocked. Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, who was on-air at the time, didn’t mince his words and criticized the TV umpire’s call.

"The bat has hit the pad, the bat has not hit the ball," Gavaskar said.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan also slammed the decision as he tweeted: “The bat hit the pad .. that was OUT .. #IPL .. Shocking decision ..”

Taking to X, former India opener Wasim Jaffer wrote: “Bat hit pad, also DK looked hesitant to review as he knew he was out. Third umpire got it wrong again. #RCBvRR #Eliminator #IPL2024”.

Here’s how the other members of cricket fraternity reacted:

Notably, Dinesh Karthik was facing his very first delivery when the controversial decision was made by the third umpire. He went on to score 11 off 13 balls with one boundary before getting out in the penultimate over.