IPL 2018: 5 horrible umpiring howlers so far which influenced the game 

The 10th edition of the Indian Premier League was marred by more than two dozen umpiring howlers, and this season has been chugging along on similar lines.

Every third game in IPL 2018 has witnessed an umpiring howler, some of which influenced the losing team to a large extent. This year, there are less foreign umpires and mostly all are Indians, who have not been as vigilant as expected from them.

Here are 5 worst umpiring howlers of the season so far.

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#5 Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders

That’s our job buddy, see it and make a call. Horrible umpiring on this occasion and with all the technology in our game these days it should be overturned https://t.co/1ovnOlac4H

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) May 9, 2018

The players and commentators were left shocked after a terrible howler was made by Umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan in the second leg between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

The umpire signalled the fifth delivery of the 16th over bowled by KKR paceman Tom Curran as a no ball for overstepping. However, the replays clearly showed that it wasn't a no ball and the bowler’s foot was well under the line.

KKR skipper and Curran requested the umpire to change his decision, but Ananthapadmanbhan kept firm.

“That’s our job buddy, see it and make a call. Horrible umpiring on this occasion and with all the technology in our game these days it should be overturned,” Michael Clarke tweeted after the match.

#4 Mumbai Indians vs Royal Challengers Bangalore

The RCB skipper was seen fuming at the umpire's decision

Mumbai’s Hardik Pandya got an extended life in the penultimate over of the first innings, after the third umpire overturned the initial decision of the on-field umpire, according to whom the star all-rounder was out.

Chris Woakes bowled the penultimate over and RCB appealed for a caught behind decision to which the umpire agreed.

However, MI reviewed the decision and even though the replays showed a slight edge, the third umpire ruled out a wicket, which left RCB skipper Virat Kohli fuming.

#3 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab

Andrew Tye

In a match between KKR and Kings XI in April at the former’s home ground, Australia’s Andrew Tye was a victim of yet another umpiring howler.

Tye was bowling to Robin Uthappa when one of his deliveries in the sixth over was adjudged as a no-ball, while replays suggested that his foot was well behind the line. The visitors tried to appeal to the umpire but it was of no avail.

#2 Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings

Shardul Thakur

The players and fans of Sunrisers Hyderabad were agitated with umpire Vineet Kulkarni’s blunder, the one in which a Shardul Thakur delivery – which was well above the waist of Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson — was not adjudged as a no-ball.

The game went down to the wire and Sunrisers lost it, and many argued that the no-ball which was not given influenced the final result of the game.

The square leg umpire was solely responsible for this. Kulkarni, it can be recalled, had earlier withdrawn from the ICC’s Elite Panel after controversial decisions involving the Indian team.

#1 Rajasthan Royals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Rajasthan Royals

A match between Rajasthan and Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium saw a rare howler when, in the 12th over of the game, not six but seven balls were bowled in the vigilance, or lack of it, of umpire Nigel Llong.

Ben Laughlin bowled three balls to Kane Williamson and another four to Shikhar Dhawan, which was one of the rarest cricketing blunders at the highest level. TV umpire Nandan too didn’t notice the seventh ball, but several online scorecards gave details for seven balls for the 12th over.

“This is a rare mistake. Or else an injury break could also see the umpires losing the count. But these are always corrected," a source told TOI.