IPL: Top 5 controversial umpiring decisions in tournament history

3.The no-ball replay that caused a stir

This was an absolute blunder that grabbed the attention of the cricketing world. On 17th April 2018, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) locked horns in a league match. The Mumbai outfit batted first and piled up a colossal total of 213 runs on the board, with skipper Rohit Sharma scoring 94 off just 52 deliveries.

In reply, in spite of a brilliant 92* from the legendary Virat Kohli, the RCB side could manage to score just 167. But then, off the last ball of the 18th over of RCB’s innings, there was an umpiring error, and it was a blatant one. Jasprit Bumrah bowled a short delivery, and Umesh Yadav swung the bat wildly. The ball took the outside edge of his willow and went straight to Rohit Sharma, who completed the catch.

But then, the umpire was not sure about the legitimacy of the delivery and wanted to make sure that Bumrah’s foot was behind the crease and the delivery was a fair one. The replays confirmed that it was a fair delivery. So, what was the problem?

The problem was, in the replay that was shown, Umesh Yadav was not the man on strike. The third umpire had actually seen the replay of some other delivery, where Yadav was clearly seen standing at the opposite end (non-striker’s end) next to Bumrah. Yes, mistakes happen in sport. But this was one occasion where the third umpire was totally careless.