Rajasthan Royals (RR) will be satisfied with their bowling effort to restrict the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to 172 on a ground that is known for chasing in Ahmedabad in the eliminator on Wednesday, May 22. There were signs that RCB could have gotten more, when Rajat Patidar's catch was dropped, when Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis got through the first two overs of Trent Boult but the Royals kept coming back with wickets at regular intervals and will now fancy themselves to chase this score down.
The score could have been less or even more or may have stayed as it is now but the third umpire's decision definitely became a huge talking point. Bowling the 15th over of the innings, Avesh Khan had his tails up having dismissed the dangerous Rajat Patidar on the previous delivery and he bowled a full inswinging delivery to the new batter Dinesh Karthik which struck him onto the pads and the umpire immediately raised his finger.
Karthik was in two minds before going for the review but he did. Before the ball hit the pads, there was a spike on the ultraedge. The TV umpire thought it was the bat hitting the ball rather than the pad, which was the case, and judged it not out to the shock of the fielding team.
RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara couldn't believe what he just saw, the bowler Avesh was stunned as well and was in the on-field umpire's ears. Sangakkara was animatedly discussing the call with the fourth umpire near the boundary. In such a big game like a knockout, decisions like these can really cost the team and this is not the first time that the third umpire has given a shocker of a call. Michael Vaughan, Wasim Jaffer and the fans too couldn't even digest the decision.
Watch the video here:
The decision didn't really cost the Royals that much as Karthik went on to score 11 in the next 12 balls he faced before Avesh only got him out. On another day, Karthik could have gone on to smash a 20-ball fifty and that decision could have been the difference between the team winning and losing.
