IPL 2023

Did Wriddhiman Saha’s wicket review against Mumbai Indians come too late? Here’s what the rules say

by Wisden Staff April 25, 2023 - 4:04pm 2 minute read

A DRS review by Wriddhiman Saha has raised eyebrows in IPL 2023 after the Gujarat Titans wicketkeeper was seen gesturing for a review after the 15-second on-screen timer had lapsed.

Saha was the first GT wicket to fall against Mumbai Indians, gloving an Arjun Tendulkar delivery behind in the third over. It was the faintest of contacts, one that the on-field umpire deliberated over before ruling Saha out. Saha walked up to fellow opener Shubman Gill, and took his time over taking a review, before making the T-sign. However, he seemed to have missed his chance, with the on-screen timer having already elapsed.

“Oh, too late brother! You’re out of here,” exclaimed Danny Morrison on-air, but was in for a surprise when the umpires accepted the request, going upstairs.

“It was a very late call,” said Matthew Hayden. “Well… he’s given him.”

The review didn’t eventually help, for TV umpire Chris Gaffaney upheld Nand Kishore’s decision, noticing a just-perceptible spike on UltraEdge.

Brett Lee, too, was unimpressed, tweeting: “Why have the 15 sec referral rule in 🏏 if the 3rd umpire doesn’t enforce it ? @IPL #timesup”.

According to the IPL 2023 playing conditions, Appendix D, Condition 3.2.2: “The total time elapsed between the ball becoming dead and the review request being made shall be no more than 15 seconds. The bowler’s end umpire shall provide the relevant player with a prompt after 10 seconds if the request has not been made at that time and the player shall request the review immediately thereafter. If the on-field umpires believe that a request has not been made within the 15 second time limit, they shall decline the request for a Player Review.”

Based on the footage, the time from the umpire’s finger raise to Saha’s T-sign was 19 seconds.

It’s possible that the on-screen DRS timer was incorrect, and did not coincide with the umpire’s own timer. A similar doubt was raised during the 2020/21 Border Gavaskar Trophy, when Tim Paine appeared to ask for a review after the timer clocked out. It’s also unclear whether Saha got a 10-second prompt from the on-field umpires, a necessary process according to the Playing Conditions.