IPL 2024: SRH’s Heart-stopping Win Against RR Spotlights Serious DRS Problem

Cricket is a funny game with lots of complicated laws. One such came to light as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by just one run in their 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash, even though it did not affect the game in the end. This incident happened on the last ball, which ultimately decided the result. Needing two to win off the last ball, Bhuvneshwar trapped Rowman Powell with a full toss to trap RR on 200 while chasing a target of 202. Bhuvneshwar went for an in-deep yorker but missed his mark to deliver a full toss instead. As Rowman Powell played around it, the ball deflected slightly to the right-hander and flushed onto the pads.

The umpire didn’t histet as it looked straight enough and the finger went up.

Rowman chose to review the decision almost immediately. Replays couldn’t find anything on UltraEdge and there were three reds in ball tracking. He was dismissed and SRH won by one run. Interestingly, SRH would still have won by one run. According to the Laws of Cricket, the ball being considered dead, the batsman is immediately dismissed by the umpire. 20.1.1.3 – The ball shall be deemed dead immediately after the event causing the dismissal. Therefore, if the ball hits the pad and the umpire considers it to be Leg Before Wicket (LBW), it is considered that play is over and the ball is dead.

A review or reversal of the umpire’s decision on the last ball, as in the case between SRH and RR, will not affect what happened after the batsman was dismissed. If the batter has an inside edge or the ball misses the stumps, any run scored after the umpire’s decision will be void. RR would still have lost.