There was controversy during the Royal Challengers Bangalore innings against Punjab Kings as Devdutt Paddikal was given ‘not out’ following a DRS review, despite an apparent spike on UltraEdge as the ball passed the bat.

Ravi Bishnoi bowled to the left-handed Paddikal who attempted a reverse-sweep, only for the ball to pass through to Punjab Kings captain and wicketkeeper KL Rahul. As Rahul caught the ball both he and Bishnoi celebrated what they believed to be an obvious caught behind.

However, the umpire was unmoved, which prompted an immediate review from PBKS. As the review went to the third umpire, a slight squiggle appeared at the exact time that the ball passed the glove. However the third umpire deemed it insignificant enough for the initial decision to be overturned. On commentary, Ian Bishop, Deep Dasgupta and Simon Doull were bemused.

“I’m not surprised KL Rahul is having a chat with the on-field umpire,” said Dasgupta. “It’s not his fault though but he’s convinced, KL Rahul is convinced. So am I to an extent.”

“That’s what he’s saying, isn’t it?”, asked Doull, “Why isn’t that out? We’ve got the technology and there’s a wiggle, right…there! To me that’s the question that KL Rahul is asking and it’s also consistent with what we’re saying.”

Ian Bishop cut a more pragmatic figure wondering whether the commentators and the rest of us were missing something.

“There was a disruption of the line when the ball was still in the area of the glove, so we need to get some clarification of it a little bit later. But I’m like him [KL Rahul], but I’m also subject to being wrong.”

However, Doull was unequivocal: “We love that Bish, we love that, subject to be wrong. What I see is a wiggle, and the only thing that can cause that is a brush of a glove. It’s not like an eagle has come down and just all of a sudden interrupted with the sound. There’s nothing else other than the glove in the frame. And that’s what we go on, that’s why the third umpire makes decisions. So, it’s a question mark. The game’s got to go on but it’s definitely a question mark.”

The squiggle on UltraEdge was less significant than those usually associated with a traditional edge. However, a combination of factors could have come into play, including that Paddikal’s glove was a long distance away from the stumps (and therefore the microphone used for UltraEdge) and also that a brush of the glove is likely to make a more muffled noise as compared to the ball deflecting off the harder surface of a bat, resulting in a smaller disruption of the line. Nevertheless, many were left unimpressed, including former New Zealand international and Star Sports pundit Scott Styris who called for the third umpire to be sacked.

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