Former cricketer Ian Bishop says there was sufficient evidence for Rajat Patidar to be given 'not out' during RCB's match against GT. Bishop questioned Jason Holder's control of the ball, which seemed to touch the ground during the catch.
RCB displayed their first genuinely poor performance with the bat this season, not able to capitalise on the surge of momentum produced by Virat Kohli's five successive boundaries against pacer Kagiso Rabada in the powerplay. A big point of debate was the catch to dismiss Patidar, with the RCB camp, led by Virat, protesting that as the all-rounder held on to the ball while sliding on the turf, the ball had touched the grass as Holder got up. The whole camp looked unhappy with Patidar's dismissal and RCB collapsed from 79/3 at this point to 96/6.
Expert Analysis on the Catch
Speaking during the ESPNCricinfo 'TimeOut', Bishop said that the footage of Holder's hand sliding through the turf deserved a second look and questioned if it was truly determined that the all-rounder had his fingers under the ball while getting up.
"My debate on it would be: Jason Holder, first, he caught the ball, no problems with that. And then with the sliding of the hand initially, that deserved a second look. And then you talk about control of the ball, but also control of the body. So when you are looking to get yourself up having slid along the ground, are they determining that his fingers was under the ball?," he said.
Ian said that the back of Holder's catching hand was to the sky, and the ball was facing the grass. "And so there was to me doubt there about ball and ground, because you are not in control of your body until you stop sliding and you stand up if you are going to do that. So out or not out? "I think there was sufficient evidence in my mind for that to be [not out]," Bishop added.
What Do the Rules Say?
As per MCC's Laws of Cricket, the catch is considered fair if the fielder "has complete control over the ball and their own movement before the ball touches the ground".
'The ball touched the ground': Abhinav Mukund
The catch, as per the rules, would be valid, but former Indian cricketer Abhinav Mukund disagrees as well, since the ball touched the ground. "To me, that is not out because the ball should not touch the ground," he said.
"If the ball touches the ground, then it clearly is not out. And there are multiple ways to get up. You are an extremely fit international athlete. You do not need your hands or a ball to get up. So that is where I stand in the whole matter," he added.
"I know there's a lot of ambiguity in the law itself. But if the ball touches the ground, to me it is not out. And what I saw, which I am sure the TV umpire did see, and a lot of viewers also saw, [was that] the ball touched the ground," he signed off.
RCB Unhappy with Dismissal
About the catch, RCB pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took a valiant three-wicket-haul in loss, said during the post-match presser, "I was not there, but what I can see is that we saw that the ball touched the ground. We wanted an umpire to have a closer look at that."
Match Summary
Coming to the match, GT opted to bowl first. Virat Kohli (28 in 13 balls, with five fours) got RCB off to a good start, with five successive fours against Kagiso Rabada (1/44). But courtesy fine spells from Arshad Khan (3/22), Rashid Khan (2/19) and Jason Holder (2/29), RCB continued to lose wickets regularly. Devdutt Padikkal (40 in 24 balls, with five fours and two sixes) was the top-scorer as RCB posted 155 in 19.2 overs.
During the chase, quickfire knocks from skipper Shubman Gill (43 in 18 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Jos Buttler (39 in 19 balls, with two fours and four sixes) aided GT's run-chase, but after losing all three top-order batters at 92, GT sank to 111/5. But Rahul Tewatia (27* in 17 balls, with four boundaries) held one end steady, taking GT to fifth spot in the table with their fifth win of the season in nine matches. RCB meanwhile, stays at the second spot, having suffered their third loss in nine matches. (ANI)
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