Sharjah, Oct 3: The poor quality of Indian domestic umpires was again exposed badly when unheralded TV official Krishnamachari Srinivasan failed to spot a clear spike on DRS after Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Devdutt Padikkal sneaked a Ravi Bishnoi delivery to Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul behind the stumps in an IPL match here on Sunday.
There were calls for his “sacking” from former cricketers, including Scot Styris and and Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who termed the error “unforgivable”.
The incident happened in the eighth over when Padikkal went for a reverse sweep and was caught behind.
The on-field umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan ruled not out and it was referred to the third umpire.
While the snicko showed a clear spike off the gloves, Srinivasan, who looked edgy and under-confident while taking mist decisions, to everyone’s surprise ruled it not out as well.
Padikkal was batting on 35 and added five more runs to the total while Punjab lost by six runs.
An angry Rahul was seen talking to the umpire about how the spike was overlooked.
It could be said that Srinivasan’s decision could have been instrumental in final context and it is there to be seen if he gets any other assignment.
“Terrible umpiring, mistakes like that is unforgivable with so much technology and help these days,” Srikkanth tweeted.
“Sack the 3rd umpire immediately. What a joke,” New Zealand’s former star all rounder Scott Styris said.
“How was that Not Out??,’ wondered former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra. (PTI)
