IPL 2018: Why Virat Kohli furiously wanted to know 3rd umpire’s name

The Indian Premier League has never been short of controversies with umpires letting bowlers bowl seven legal deliveries in an over, batsmen taking strike despite not being at the non-striking end at the end of the previous over and wide deliveries been let alone as legal ones.

It was the same on May 16 as well when Royal Challengers Bangalore took on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in a do-or-die tie for Virat Kohli’s troops. Put in to bat first, Royal Challengers rode on the brilliance of AB de Villiers (39-ball 69) and Moeen Ali (34-ball 65) as they posted 218/6 in their stipulated 20 overs before Sunrisers Hyderabad started well with Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan guiding them to a terrific start.

With 27 off just 2.4 overs, Hales heaved one on towards the mid-wicket fence but failed to clear the ropes by quite some distance as Tim Southee put in a diving effort to catch the ball. Since it was a close call, on-field umpires Anil Dandekar and Sundaram Ravi referred the decision upstairs. It seemed like a clean catch and so was the opinion of most on the commentary panel but after a number of replays from various angles, the decision was given in favour of the batsman.

That infuriated Virat Kohli who charged down to the on-field umpires, convinced that the catch was taken cleanly. However, the decision wouldn’t change and an angry Virat Kohli could be seen fuming at one of the umpires stating, “Who’s the third umpire? Who?” before walking away after seeming to know the name.

The third umpire was Chettithody Shamshuddin and although Kohli’s frustration was completely understandable after celebrating the wicket for around five minutes, it isn’t sure why he wanted to know who was officiating the match from the third-umpire’s chair.