The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) served up a thriller in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match on Sunday at the Eden Gardens. The hosts won the match by just a run despite setting a target of 223 for RCB to chase and one dismissal in the latter's innings seems to have become quite contentious in the hours after the match.

RCB's former captain Virat Kohli fell in the third over of their chase after he hit a full toss back to bowler Harshit Rana while seeming to be taking evasive action. The ball came at an awkward height for him and Kohli made the 'T' sign for the DRS as soon as Rana completed the catch. However, the umpires themselves sent the decision upstairs and the third umpire ended up deeming it to be a legal delivery and a fair catch. Kohli had an animated discussion with the on-field before walking off fuming. A number of former players have since defended Kohli and asked for better clarity on the rule for height and among them is former India batter Mohammad Kaif.

The 43-year-old said on Monday in a post on X that the decision was "disappointing" and stated that Kohli had fallen to an entirely new mode of dismissal altogether. “You can dismiss a batter in 10 different ways with a single ball and with six deliveries you have 60 ways to get a batter out. There are only 10 ways to get a batter out but now Virat Kohli has been dismissed by a beamer which is a new one,” said Kaif in the video that he posted.

“Giving Virat Kohli out off a beamer is a terrible decision because how can you control a ball that is coming at you in that trajectory. Harshit Rana should apologise and say sorry to Kohli for the ball slipping out of his hands and the delivery should have been called a no ball. Instead, Kohli was given out, this is a terrible decision.” Kaif then pointed to his ribs and said that any batter who is having to defend a full toss at that height cannot have any control on it. “The batter always looks down at where the ball is supposed to be pitching, no one can be ready for a delivery like that. It was a bad decision to give Virat Kohli out,” he said.

It has since emerged that Kohli has been fined 50 percent of his match fee for his outburst after being given out by the third umpire. As per the IPL statement, Kohli committed a Level 1 offence under Article 2.8 of the IPL's Code of Conduct. The former RCB skipper admitted to the offence and accepted the match referee’s sanction. "For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding," the statement added.

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