A controversial decision involving the spidercam caused confusion towards the end of the Kolkata Knight Riders – Rajasthan Royals IPL game in Dubai, when Kamlesh Nagarkoti held a catch after the ball seemingly hit the suspended camera.
The incident occured in the final delivery of the 18th over of KKR’s chase. Unadkat pulled a short delivery from Kuldeep Yadav in the air, attempting to clear the leg-side field. The trajectory of the shot initially made it seem that it would go the distance, but it lost steam and settled into the hands of Nagarkoti at deep mid-wicket.
As soon as the catch was completed, Unadkat was seen gesturing towards the camera and signalling the umpires.
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“We think it might have hit the cable of the spidercam,” said Simon Doull on air, “which renders it a dead ball.” The decision was consulted with the television umpire, but replays couldn’t prove a distinct deviation.
Commentators Danny Morrison and Sunil Gavaskar, along with Doull, said it was difficult to reach a decision because the white ball had hit the thin fibre attached to the camera.
“The line just take a different shape in the split second,” Morrison said. “I think he’s going to be unlucky there .Nothing conclusive, I reckon Doully [Simon Doull]?”
“Very very difficult to tell,” Doull said. “It doesn’t hit the main unit, which is the camera, only about the optic fibre that is attaching it and keeping it in the sky.”
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“There’s nothing,” said Gavaskar. “It’s not conclusive”.
After replaying the dismissal a few times, the television umpire ruled the decision in the fielding team’s favour, sending Unadkat back on a 13-ball 9.
The decision had little bearing on the final result, with Rajasthan requiring a near-impossible 69 runs in the final two overs when Unadkat was dismissed. Tom Curran notched up his maiden IPL fifty in the final over, his 36-ball 54 reducing the margin of the final defeat to 37 runs.
