5 Controversial umpiring decisions in Indian T20 League history

The 16^th season of the Indian T20 League is almost upon us with teams having already given names for the retained players. After the mini-auction, all teams will have a coherent team and then the franchises will start their preparations for the next season. All teams will be looking to improve their player performance and mount a challenge for the trophy.

Although player performance plays the utmost importance in an Indian T20 League, sometimes, the matches are swayed into one team’s favour by incorrect umpiring decisions.

Let’s look at five instances of bad umpiring in the Indian T20 League history that are considered the worst.

Kane Williamson’s catch (2018)

Kane Williamson catch (Image source: Twitter)

Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson has been known to turn the tides and win matches single-handedly. This is why his dismissal from a catch by Devdutt Paddikal in the 2022 Indian T20 League season attracted a lot of intrigues. More so however because the decision seemed to be incorrectly given by both the on-field umpire as well as the third umpire.

The catch by Paddikal appeared to be dropped by the fielder but was still given as out. Since the third umpire could not find a comprehensive reason to overturn the decision it went with the on-field umpire’s soft decision and gave Williamson out. This decision created a lot of controversies.

Virat Kohli LBW against Mumbai (2022)

Virat Kohli (Image source: Twitter)

Batting at 48, star India batter Virat Kohli hoped for coming up with his first half-century in the 2022 Indian T20 League season before he was incorrectly given LBW out. Kohli knew that the ball had first hit the bat and went for a DRS review hoping that the decision would be overturned. It was however not to be as the third umpire could not find sufficient reason to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision. Kohli fumed his way to the dressing room.

Rovman Powell no-ball (2022)

Rovman Powell Rishabh Pant (Image source: Twitter)

Delhi franchise Rovman Powell was going at bowlers and had hit 3 back-to-back sixes in the last over when 36 were required off it. The third ball was a full toss that was contested by Delhi captain Rishabh Pant and the management but still the ball wasn’t given to the third umpire. Pant then sent coach Pravin Amre to protest the umpire’s decision at the pitch. As a result, Pant was charged 100% of his match fee while Amre was suspended for one match. Shardul Thakur was also fined 50% for his vocal protest.

Kane Williamson waist high no ball (2018)

Kane Williamson (Image source: Twitter)

Hyderabad lost to Chennai in 2018 by just four runs. In the 17^th over, however, there was a ball bowled that created a lot of controversies. Chennai’s Shardul Thakur had bowled a waist-high ball that was above Kane Williamson’s waist. To everyone’s surprise, however, it wasn’t given a no-ball despite clearly appearing like one. Hyderabad came close to winning the game and finished at 178/9 in response to Chennai’s 183. Had that ball been given a no-ball, they could have won.

No ball to Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni walks on field in protest (2019)

MS Dhoni umpire controversy (Image source: Twitter)

In the 2019 season of the Indian T20 League, there was a bad umpiring decision that caused MS Dhoni to lose his cool and walk onto the pitch. Rajasthan player Ben Stokes bowled a waist-high delivery to Ravindra Jadeja which was deemed legitimate by the on-field umpires