IPL 2021: KL Rahul Furious After Devdutt Padikkal Survives Controversial Call

Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Devdutt Padikkal scored 40 against Punjab.

Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul talking to the on-field umpires.

Image: BCCI

In what was the second such incident in the recent days, a third umpiring decision in IPL 2021 left everyone, from the players, to the commentators and experts shocked.

Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Devdutt Paddikal was attempting a reverse sweep against Punjab Kings’ Ravi Bishnoi in the 8^th over and could not connect properly. However, it seemingly brushed his glove and was caught by KL Rahul.

Punjab reviewed the initial not out decision of the on-field umpire, with captain Rahul being quite sure of the call.

Third umpire K Srinivasan had a look and ruled in favour of the batter despite a bit of a clear spike as the ball goes under the glove on UltraEdge.

Punjab captain Rahul was visibly displeased and could be seen asking the on-field umpires about the decision.

Padikkal had been batting on 35 at the time and was later dismissed for 40.

Earlier on Friday, Punjab were on the receiving end of a dubious call like this when they were playing Kolkata Knight Riders.

Chasing 166, Rahul pulled a shortish Shivam Mavi delivery with Rahul Tripathi running in from the deep and diving forward to take a brilliant catch, or that's what many thought. But the third umpire thought otherwise.

Ex-KKR captain Gambhir termed the decision a "shocker".

"That was a shocker. This can end someone's campaign. It was clearly out. He shouldn't have even seen the replay more than once. Even without the slow-mo, it looked out. Things could have changed. We have seen Punjab panic in the last over. These sort of shockers cannot happen, especially at the level of IPL. It could be very unfair not only to the player but to the entire franchise," said Gambhir.