It was a dismal day for Kolkata Knight Riders, in terms of fielding, in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match against Punjab Kings. Lots of squandered chances put them on the losing side as PBKS recorded a nervy 5-wicket win at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday night. With this win, the Punjab-based franchise kept their play-offs hopes alive.

While it was a bad fielding day for Eoin Morgan and the team, a magnificent piece of fielding by Rahul Tripathi in the 19th over of the PBKS’ chase caught everyone by surprise.

The match went down to the wire as PBKS chased down 166 with 3 balls to go. It should be noted that the result could’ve gone KKR’s way had the third umpire adjudged Tripathi’s catch as legal.

The whole incident turned into a controversial moment as the third umpire ruled out Tripathi’s catch after watching the replays.

This is how the catch played out. Shivam Mavi bowled a short delivery, KL Rahul hooked it. Tripathi, at the deep mid-wicket region, came in running and complete a low catch while diving forward.

The reason the third umpire dismissed the catch was “the ball touched the ground.”

However, commentators and former cricketers were of the opinion that the catch was legal and the fielder had fingers underneath the ball.

“That was the worst piece of third umpiring I have ever seen,” Swann said on Star Sports’ post-match show.

“That was a shocker, this can end someone’s campaign. He shouldn’t have seen the replay more than once, it just looked out. Even if they had got KL Rahul out, things would have been different. We cannot have these kinds of shockers in the IPL,” former KKR captain Gautam Gambhir said.

“That was a catch for me by Rahul Tripathi,” Anjum Chopra said.

During the post-match presentation, Eoin Morgan was asked about the controversial moment.

“I thought in real-time it was out (referring to the Rahul catch in the 19th over). Obviously, when you slow things down and analyse it.. that the third umpire thought otherwise and his decision is made, that’s final and we need to get on with it. But it would have been nice if we had got that wicket,” Morgan said.