Harshal Patel took an excellent catch off Ayush Badoni's bat on Thursday (March 27). But there were doubts over whether it was legal or not – here's what the laws say.
After being put in to bat at home, Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to put up 190-9, thanks in large part to Travis Head (47) and youngster Aniket Verma (36 off 13). Shardul Thakur shone with 4-34 for Lucknow Super Giants, while rookie pacer Prince Yadav also impressed.
Match 7, Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants
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- Ball by ball Over
LSG made short work of the chase, with the bulk of the scoring coming from Mitchell Marsh (52) and Nicholas Pooran (70). By the time both of them were dismissed, LSG needed 63 off 59 balls with seven wickets in hand.
In the 14th over, Ayush Badoni skied an attempted slog off the bowling of Adam Zampa. The ball headed out towards midwicket, where Harshal Patel came running in from the boundary to hold on to the catch and leave LSG four down at that stage.
Harshal Patel takes running catch for SRH – what do the Laws say?
After Harshal took the catch, he threw the ball in the air in celebration as he was sliding, and there were immediate reactions from viewers which suggested the catch may not have been completed, by the letter of the law.
According to clause 33.3 of the IPL 2025 Playing Conditions, "The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his own movement."
Here, Harshal had thrown the ball up while he was still sliding, meaning a case could be made that he was not in full control of his movement. However, this judgment is left up to the umpires and they must have felt that in this case, the fielder was sufficiently in control of both the ball and his own movement.
Shubman Gill was recently let off the hook for a similar action in the Champions Trophy, as the on-field umpires gave him a short talk after he took a catch and quickly flicked the ball up in celebration, all in almost one motion.
These situations rarely go in the batter's favour, though, meaning the precedent set up to this point, like in Gill's case is that umpires are generally quite lenient with their interpretation of the law.
Image credit: X / @IPL
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