On-field umpire Anil Chaudhary seemingly influenced a DRS call during the IPL 2020 clash involving Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals on Tuesday. His gesture may have helped SRH captain David Warner not go for a review as DC were chasing 220 at the Dubai International Stadium.

The incident occurred during the 17th over of DC chase when Ravichandran Ashwin was struck on the pad by Sandeep Sharma. However., Chaudhary tapped on his knuckles in an apparent signal that bat was involved.

Consequently, SRH didn’t go for the review.

The act immediately caught the attention of the commentators with the likes of Brett Lee, Scott Styris and Sanjay Bangar questioning it.

“Should the umpire be doing that? Standing there saying ‘bat’? With the ability now of teams to have reviews, should he be giving a cue to the players? When we played before DRS was around, we would often see umpires do that, and there was no problem because he was then helping the fielding team out as to say why it was given not out – ‘I believe he hit it’. But now, with the DRS…” Styris said during the live broadcast.

Former India allrounder and batting coach Bangar agreed with Styris.

“I’m with your there, Scottie, on the umpire giving an indication to the players when they have to make a decision within those 15 seconds,” he said. “If at all they (umpires) want to convey something to the bowlers or to a player who might have just questioned him, he should be doing that after the 15 seconds. Not straightaway after the event has happened.”

Fast bowling legend Lee echoed their views.

“Watch the umpire here, tapping his hand, which is the universal umpire’s signal for ball hitting the bat. It basically says to the fielding side, the bowler – ‘I believe he’s hit it, so there’s no point reviewing’. You still have your right to review, of course, but you’re not going to.”

As per the IPL playing conditions, “Under no circumstances is any player permitted to query an umpire about any aspect of a decision before deciding on whether or not to request a Player Review.”

However, it is silent on the scenario when an umpire ends up influencing review.

The decision though would make no impact on the final outcome as SRH registered a crushing 88-run win to keep their playoffs chances alive.