The Indian Premier League 2021 contest between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings saw a controversial moment played out when opener Devdutt Padikkal was handed a lifeline by the third umpire. The moment took place in the 8th over when Padikkal appeared to nick a delivery from spinner Ravi Bishnoi to PBKS captain and wicketkeeper KL Rahul behind the stumps.

Both Bishnoi and Rahul were convinced that Padikkal had touched the ball with his glove, and they started celebrating the dismissal but the umpire deemed it as not out. PBKS used their review and the replays saw a small spike when the ball was just above Padikkal’s gloves.

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But despite the clear visual, the TV umpire deemed there was no spike and the on-field umpire’s decision was accepted, leaving PBKS skipper Rahul fuming.

Former India cricketers Ajay Jadeja, and Ashish Nehra addressed the incident during a discussion on Cricbuzz and both agreed that there was a spike, so it should have been given out. The two also spoke on the problems with the current DRS technology and rules.

“DRS is absolutely bad. Tell me one thing, you had put DRS because umpire can sometimes make mistakes. Then get some technology that does not make mistakes. If a machine is making mistake, then why have you placed that man on the field – he is not holding the caps anymore, he is no longer calling the no balls – when he says out, you believe it to be not out,” Jadeja said.

“The concept has perhaps been created of how much deflection is visible. Same for LBW – either the ball just touched the stumps or knocked down entire stumps. But then you say that is umpire’s call. It has just touched the down. This will remain till there are two thought patterns for all instances of fine line margins. But if you ask me, I noticed the deflection, so I feel it was out,” he added.

“If you ask me, it was out. Once KKR’s Rahul Tripathi picked a catch of KL Rahul during a match. I am not a big fan of concepts of soft signals. The umpires are standing far away, and they sometimes are unable to see all the things happening on the field. So, if you have placed a third umpire, I feel they should make entire judgment on it. But then again, sometimes there are doubts even on camera whether the ball had hit the ground or not, so sometimes benefit of doubts are given to batsman,” Nehra added.

“But today, there was no benefit of doubts. There was a clear spike on the screen. KL Rahul had picked a great catch, but third umpire gave it not out,” he signed off.