An LBW decision in IPL 2022 involving Virat Kohli stirred plenty of debate after the third umpire ruled him out despite judging there was “simultaneous” bat-pad contact with the ball.

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The moment even prompted Royal Challengers Bangalore to tweet out an excerpt from the Laws of Cricket from their official handle.

Kohli looked set to spearhead RCB towards victory against Mumbai Indians, closing in on a fifty for the first time in this IPL when he faced Dewald Brevis’ part-time leg-spin in the 19th over. Off Brevis’ first ball in the IPL, Kohli plonked his front foot out to defend, but seemingly under-edged the ball onto his pad, with confusion emerging whether it hit the inside half of the bat first, or the front pad.

Umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan promptly raised his finger, and Kohli took little time to seek the third umpire’s input. Ulhas Gandhe, on TV duty, checked UltraEdge first, where replays suggested that the spike on the graph appeared only after the ball had passed the bat. “Ball is close to the pad, as well as bat,” Gandhe was heard saying, “It’s simultaneous. On-field decision is out”. He went ahead to consult ball-tracking thereafter. Having been shown that the ball was in line and hitting the stumps, he upheld the on-field decision.

Commentator Danny Morrison wasn’t too convinced with the call. “Kohli doesn’t like it, and I must say, question marks around it,” he said. “Furious – don’t blame you VK.”

Extended footage showed Kohli walking back in anger, swinging his bat, muttering to himself as he crossed the boundary and dashing past the dugout.

On Sunday, the Bangalore franchise tweeted out a picture with an MCC law pertaining to the dismissal, which read: “Law 36.2.2: If the ball makes contact with the striker’s bat and pad simultaneously, this shall be considered as the ball having first touched the bat”, along with the caption: “We were just reading through the MCC Laws of Cricket for LBW decisions, and here’s what we found. Unfortunate that Virat Kohli had to walk back disappointed after a brilliant knock.”

The wording of the IPL playing conditions differ slightly from the Laws of Cricket at this point. They state: “If the bowler’s end umpire is not satisfied that the ball intercepted the batter’s person before it touched the bat, the batter shall be given Not out”.

However, the TV umpire should only overturn a decision if evidence is conclusive. “If despite the available technology, the third umpire is unable to decide with a high degree of confidence whether the original on-field decision should be changed, then he/she shall report that the replays are ‘inconclusive’, and that the on-field decision shall stand,” clause 3.3.6 of Appendix D of the IPL playing conditions state.

On the above reading, if the TV umpire is certain impact is simultaneous, then the decision should have been not out. However, if he felt there was a chance that the impact could have been pad first, the ‘out’ decision was correct.

On social media, there were plenty of reactions, with many standing behind Kohli.

Out or not out? You decide. Here’s the dismissal:

https://twitter.com/tanyadiors/status/1512854649035886592

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