Rajasthan Royals were left fuming following a controversial decision by the TV umpire during the SRH vs RR game which saw Travis Head get a lucky reprieve.
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Winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad chose to bat first at their home ground. However, they weren’t able to get off to the typical start they have come to be known for.
R Ashwin’s two quiet overs up front and the wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Anmolpreet Singh meant SRH could only score 37-2 at the end of the powerplay. Head was batting on 18 off 17 at that point. He ambled to 26 off 25 at the end of eight overs, before finally getting a move on in the ninth.
Head smashed Chahal for two sixes and a four on the last three balls of the ninth over as Nitish Kumar Reddy joined the party at the other end as well. A miraculous recovery saw them reach 123-2 at the end of 14 overs, threatening another huge score.
Avesh Khan came on to bowl the 15th over. After two wides, a six, and a dot ball, Rajasthan finally seemed to have got the well set Head when he missed a wide yorker and lost sense of where the ball was. It was, as it turned out, in the hands of the wicketkeeper Sanju Samson, who made an underarm throw at the stumps as Head was wandering outside the crease. Upon realising, he plonked his bat down inside the crease but the call was tight enough to be referred to the TV umpire.
The replays suggested that Head’s bat was still in the air when the stumps were broken, but TV umpire Rohan Pandit adjudged otherwise as he declared Head not out.
Travis Head was given not-out, Sangakkara was unhappy, asking questions to the umpire near dug-out and next ball Head got out. pic.twitter.com/AmzjXP5w8z
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) May 2, 2024
The decision led to uproar from the Rajasthan dug out as Kumar Sangakkara and company were seen arguing the decision animatedly with match officials outside the boundary line. There was a lot of reaction on social media as well against the call as people questioned the overall level of umpiring this season.
Horrible decision again from their umpire. There were two more frames to see. Head’s bat was in the air.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 2, 2024
The worst third umpire decision I've seen in a very long time. Why have 3 different angles if you're not going to look at the top picture… https://t.co/F3ii9HKfVq
— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) May 2, 2024
Luckily for Rajasthan, it didn’t cost them much as Head played on another wide yorker on the very next ball as he tried to move across and ramp it over fine leg.
Head finished with 58 off 44 as SRH made 201-3.
