'How is that allowed?': Umpires blasted for Wriddhiman Saha DRS blunder during GT vs MI IPL 2023 tie - Watch

Wriddhiman Saha and the umpires were in the middle of a DRS controversy during the GT vs MI IPL 2023 match in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

In Gujarat Titans' earlier IPL 2023 match against Punjab Kings, Wriddhiman Saha pulled an ace up his sleeve when he forced captain Hardik Pandya to take a successful review; however, the same Saha was at the receiving end of some severe flak when a DRS blunder on part of the on-field and third-umpire caught the attention of fans. GT may have gone on to win the match, defeating Mumbai Indians by 55 runs and handing the five-time champions their fourth loss of the season, but that did not overshadow the Saha-umpire error that became quite the talking point of the match.

Wriddhiman Saha (R) and Shubman Gill discuss. (Screengrab)

The incident took place in the third over of the match when Wriddhiman Saha gloved Arjun Tendulkar to Ishan Kishan down the leg side for MI's first breakthrough. However, once the umpire raised the finger, Saha went for the review. The only problem there was that a hesitant Saha after consulting with partner Shubman Gill, took more than 15 seconds to review the decision and signalled the T only after the timer had expired. Shockingly enough though, instead of telling Saha that the time to opt for the DRS was over, the two on-field umpires Anil Chaudhary and Nand Kishore upheld the call and went upstairs.­­­

"Oh, too late brother! You're out of here," said Danny Morrison on-air, but was in for a surprise when the umpires accepted the request, going upstairs. "It was a very late call," added Matthew Hayden. "Well... he's given him." Even Brett Lee was unimpressed as he tweeted: "Why have the 15 sec referral rule in cricket if the 3rd umpire doesn't enforce it ? @IPL #timesup".

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If that wasn't blindsiding enough, the fact that Chris Gaffaney, the TV umpire too did not find anything wrong in what had transpired and went ahead with reviewing the decision. The replay showed a spike on Ultra Edge so although Saha eventually had to depart, the DRS should not have stood legal in the first place. Another surprising element to the whole development was that even the Mumbai Indians players did not protest against it.

But while the gaffe went unnoticed from the officials, the public did not spare the error. Here are some of the reactions.

Saha's dismissal gave Arjun, who picked 1/9 in two overs, his third wicket of the season. Saha's early exit though did little to benefit MI as half-century from Gill and a quickfire 46 and 42 from David Miller and Abhinav Manohar rocketed the Titans to 207/6. Their 71-run partnership off just six overs knocked the stuffing out of MI as the Titans smashed 106 runs off the last eight overs of the innings.

In reply MI simply couldn't get going with captain Rohit Sharma perishing early and Ishan Kishan wasting a plethora of deliveries at the top. Mohammed Shami's swing and pace constantly troubled MI with the new ball, and once it got slightly old, the Afghanistan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed ripped through MI's middle-order. Nehal Wadhera was their top-scorer with 40 as the likes of Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav get out after getting starts due to the mounting pressure of an exponentially high asking rate.