Twitter reacts to KL Rahul manipulating umpire (yet again) to signal dead ball despite taking stance

01/26/2020

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They say ‘lightning never strikes twice’, but KL Rahul says otherwise. After manipulating the on-field umpire once into signalling a dead ball in the third ODI between India and Windies in Cuttack, the opener managed to repeat the feat once again, sparking a debate amongst the commentators.

The ODI series between India and Windies back in December was one of the better ODI series’ in recent times and it had its fair share of controversies and anti-climatic events. But whilst the most debated incident in that series was the run out of Ravindra Jadeja, another interesting incident which passed by without people noticing it was KL Rahul’s infamous ‘pull-out’ in the Cuttack ODI, where he, despite offering a shot, pulled out of his shot and somehow managed to convince the on-field umpire to signal a dead ball. People let it go as it was not that big a deal, thinking it was nothing but a one-off incident. But if today’s events are anything to go by, it just might not be.

The incident occurred on the third ball of the 8th over, with Ish Sodhi being the bowler. Rahul, who seemed set to face the delivery, pulled off from the ball in the very last second, indicating to the bowler and the umpire that he was ‘not ready’. And the umpire obliged immediately, signalling a ‘dead ball’, so as to indicate that the ball had to re-bowled.

However, a closer look at the replays showed that New Zealand could have, in fact, protested against the decision as Rahul, at one point, took the stance and was ready to play the ball, with him not pulling out until the ball bounced. This sparked a debate amongst the commentators, who were lambasting Rahul for doing the same, stating that he was ‘lucky’ to get a dead-ball and could have potentially gone back to the pavilion had the ball hit the stump.

Luckily for Rahul, the ball was wide outside off and didn’t threaten to hit the stumps, and luckily for Rahul, he was up against the nicest opposition in the world. Lightning does strike twice, after all.

Here is how people on Twitter reacted on the incident:

https://t.co/XpJNNiWxC8
— Nishant Barai (@barainishant) January 26, 2020

KL Rahul currently best t20i batsman going around. Nobody comes close.
— ‏ً (@Viratesque) January 26, 2020

Someone should tell KL Rahul to pull away properly if he is not ready to face a ball. Second time in the recent past he is done this "kinda sorta not ready" thing. Ball didn't hit the stumps both times. It's a controversy waiting to happen.
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 26, 2020

KL Rahul Ending Everyone's Career 🤧#INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/cYJihDlOqu
— ...... (@StanMSDhoni) January 25, 2020

In how many overs India chase down the target? Depends on how long KL Rahul can bat!!

#StarNiAdugu
— v srinivasan pureti (@pureti_v) January 26, 2020