IPL 2021: “That was inexperience and inexcusable” - Sanjay Manjrekar feels third umpire erred by disallowing Rahul Tripathi's catch 

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reckons the third umpire erred big time by concluding that Rahul Tripathi had not taken a clean catch of KL Rahul on Friday.

There was a massive moment in match number 45 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai. With things getting extremely tense in the penultimate over, Rahul smashed a ball towards Tripathi at deep midwicket. The KKR fielder dived full-length forward and claimed the catch.

Since the fielder’s hands were touching the ground when the catch was completed, the on-field officials sought the third umpire’s help. After watching numerous replays, the TV umpire concluded that the ball had touched the ground and the PBKS captain survived.

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Reacting to the controversial verdict, Manjrekar opined that in case of low catches, the third umpire must be given a real-time view of the action as well.

“When it comes to low catches, especially in the deep, the third umpire must insist on having a look at a real-time replay. There was one very good angle that we saw in slow motion but in real-time you get a very good idea whether that’s a clean catch or not. When you slow it down, the whole thing becomes very grainy and complicated,” Manjrekar said during a discussion on ESPN Cricinfo.

The former batter described the verdict as inexcusable and added:

“It was a clean catch. No one was left in doubt. That was inexperience and inexcusable (from the umpire) in a way at this level when there is so much at stake. For low catches, you have to given the option of real-time replay and the scenario would have been completely different.”

South Africa’s fast bowling legend Dale Steyn also had similar views. Admitting that slow replays made things look bad as far as the fielder was concerned, he pointed out that the real-time view gave a much clearer picture.

“I looked up and they were showing replays of it. They had slowed it down and I saw the ball, kind of, press on the floor. Immediately I thought, that is not out. Then I watched it in real-time and he just looked like he had it, the way he picked up his hands. I am going with out. It happens so quickly that if you slow things down for long enough, you start finding things that are actually not there. I thought it was a clean catch,” Steyn opined.

Having survived the close call, Rahul hit a crucial boundary in the same over. Though he was dismissed in the last over, PBKS won the match by five wickets.

“Soft signal is a guide”- Manjrekar feels the option could have helped in deciding on Rahul Tripathi's catch

The IPL organizers have done away with the use of soft signal in the tournament. According to Manjrekar, the option could have aided the third umpire in making a better judgment in Tripathi’s case. He elaborated:

“There are instances when a catch is taken in the deep and the umpire has a fair idea but he’s not 100 percent sure, so he goes for a soft signal. But then the guy who is taking the final call needs to have conclusive evidence. Soft signal is a guide and it has been treated as a guide. When you have an instance when a third umpire isn’t able to make up his mind... what happens if you are not able to give the third umpire great replays? Soft signal is just an add-on to reduce errors.”

The soft signal rule has had its haters as well. During the India-England series earlier this year, a couple of controversial decisions were handed out on the basis of the rule.