On Thursday, a major controversy erupted in the Indian Premier League (IPL) game between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Gujarat Titans (GT) as the latter's wicketkeeper batter Matthew Wade was given out in controversial fashion by the Decision Review System (DRS).
Wade looked gutted after being declared out off the bowling of his Australian teammate Glenn Maxwell during the sixth over of the match.
Maxwell came up with a length delivery bowled at the stumps – Wade attempted to sweep the ball, but it struck him on the pads.
The bowler, wicketkeeper, and RCB's closing fielders went up and umpire Sadashiv Iyer ruled him out.
Matthew Wade, however, was confident that he had nicked it and immediately went for a review.
But UltraEdge showed no spike after third umpire Navdeep Singh moved to check if there was bat involved. Subsequently, the ball-tracker showed that the ball would have gone on to hit the middle or the leg stump.
A furious Wade then threw his helmet and bat before storming off the pitch in utter disbelief.
Matthew Wade's reaction though wasn't without a reason as the television umpire had rejected the other visible evidence which pointed towards an edge.
As Maxwell's ball went past Wade's bat there was a clear deflection and the delivery also changed its trajectory, but as UltraEdge failed to pick the edge, the left-hander was forced to make his long walk back to the pavilion.
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When he was leaving the field, Wade was consoled by Virat Kohli as RCB's star batsman put his arm around him.
Virat Kohli's warm gesture wasn't without reason as he had experienced a similar feeling when he was given out in an almost identical fashion against Mumbai Indians (MI) earlier in the tournament.
Batting on 48, Kohli was on the verge of his first half-century of the season and was all set to complete a comfortable run chase against five-time champions MI.
But Dewald Brevis, a part-time spinner was introduced in the attack by Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma and that is where the controversy regarding Kohli's dismissal began.
As Brevis's ball struck Kohli's pads, the on-field umpire raised his finger with Kohli given out LBW.
Kohli went on to review the decision and even TV replays indicated that his bat had taken a faint edge, the third umpire felt otherwise and directed the on-field umpire to stay with his decision.
A livid Virat Kohli was caught slamming the boundary ropes as he made his way back to the pavilion.
Even his legion of supporters was left angered by the decision as they believed that their man was not out as he had hit the ball with his bat.
In other words, it was pure bad luck for Kohli on that day. But he seemed to have found his rhythm back in recent days, having powered RCB to another crucial win over GT on Thursday night.
Kohli was at his imperious best as he struck a magnificent 73 off 54 balls to seal his team's 8th win of the tournament to keep them in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs.
Coming back to snickometer's howlers, India captain Rohit Sharma too has suffered from its indifferent reading in this season's IPL.
Earlier this month, the UltraEdge acted strangely as Rohit was declared caught behind off the bowling of New Zealand pacer Tim Southee in a match against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
As KKR reviewed, UltraEdge threw up a bigger spike followed by a streak of large spikes as the ball went past Rohit's bat. It was unusual, considering generally the technology shows a spike on the snicko if the ball has either hit the pad or the bat.
But such unusual behaviour from UltraEdge didn't deter third umpire Bruce Oxenford from overturning the on-field umpire's decision.
Rohit Sharma‘s admirers were furious at the umpire for making such a decision while the Mumbai skipper left the pitch in a huff, visibly dismayed with what had happened on the ground.
However, this isn't the first time in the history of the elite T20 tourney such umpiring howlers have happened.
Umpiring errors have been a part and parcel of IPL even before the introduction of the DRS in 2018.
It's just that they have gained in prominence in recent days because being a T20 competition even a single bad decision in the innings is bound to change the complexion of the game and at times, it could even decide the winner or the loser of the event.
For instance, imagine a player like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, or for that matter Dinesh Karthik is given out at a critical juncture, especially when either of them is dealing in boundaries and sixes, the match could simply turn on its head.
That's why it is the responsibility of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to keep enhancing technology in the IPL so that such mistakes don't happen regularly.
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