Finn Allen departs after controversial catch from Digvesh Rathi. (Reuters/Screengrab)

Another IPL howler: Digvesh Rathi touches rope during catch, 3rd umpire gives out

Yet another umpiring howler took place in the Indian Premier League this season during KKR's match against LSG. The incident occurred in the 2nd over of the match, where Finn Allen was given caught out, despite Digvesh Rathi touching the rope while catching the ball.

09 Apr 2026, 15:04 by India Today Sports Desk · India Today

In Short

Kolkata Knight Riders played Lucknow Super Giants in Kolkata on April 9
Poor umpiring resulted in KKR opener Finn Allen's wicket
This is not the first controversial decision of the IPL

Yet another umpiring howler took place in this season of the Indian Premier League during Kolkata Knight Riders’ match against Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday, April 9. KKR opener Finn Allen lost his wicket due to a poor decision from third umpire KN Anantha Padmanabhan, who ruled him caught out despite fielder Digvesh Rathi stepping on the boundary rope while completing the catch.

The incident occurred in the second over of the match, off Prince Yadav’s bowling. Allen top-edged the fourth ball of the over, which flew towards the third-man region. Digvesh, stationed there, initially misjudged the flight of the ball and walked in from the boundary.

Realising his mistake, he quickly backpedalled towards the rope in an attempt to complete the catch.

While Digvesh did manage to grab the ball, he appeared to have stepped on the boundary rope in the process. Despite this, the third umpire spent very little time reviewing the incident, even though his feet were extremely close to the rope, and ruled Allen out.

It proved to be a glaring error, with replays clearly showing that Digvesh’s left foot had made contact with the boundary rope while completing the catch.

Cricket fans on X were left angry with the decision, and called out yet another horrible decision related to controversial catches.

"It’s good we can spend 15 minutes checking a wide that’s 3 feet over the batsman’s head but when deciding whether or not the biggest wicket in the game is out they just look at stuff like this for 5 seconds and send him on his way," one of the users said.

POOR UMPIRING IN IPL 2026

This is not the first time that umpires have courted controversy in the 2026 season of the IPL. In the first match of the tournament, a similar incident happened when Phil Salt grabbed a catch of Heinrich Klaasen.

In that match, Klaasen’s heave to the leg side went high towards the midwicket boundary, where Salt settled under it and completed the catch while going to ground. The decision was sent upstairs for review due to his proximity to the boundary cushions.

In that incident, the third umpire had requested a for a top angle from the broadcaster, but the team was not able to provide that. The umpire, instead of checking thoroughly, ended up ruling in the favour of the fielding team, only for the fans to realise later on that Salt had indeed touched the rope.

With errors of this nature continuing to surface, questions around consistency and thoroughness in decision-making are only growing louder. In a tournament where margins are often razor-thin, such lapses risk undermining both the contest and the credibility of officiating.

- Ends