KL Rahul's signal helps opponent Dhruv Jurel take DRS after being given out; third umpire overturns decision
As soon as the umpire gave Jurel out, Rahul almost instinctively walked up to Kuldeep, shaking his head and signalling that the ball had hit Jurel's forearm.
KL Rahul's crystal-clear judgement, ice-cool nerves and supreme decision-making abilities have often come in handy for his captains to make the DRS call but on Wednesday (April 16), during the Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 match at the Arun Jaitely Stadium, it came to the aid of the opposite team. Rajasthan Royals batter Dhruv Jurel saw Rahul signalling to his forearm and shaking his head as if to tell teammate and bowler Kuldeep Yadav that it was not out. The RR batter took the cue and immediately went for the DRS. Replays showed that the ball hit his thigh and would go on to miss the stumps by some distance as it was a googly. The decision was overturned and Jurel survived.
It all transpired in the 16th over of RR's 189-run chase. In the penultimate ball of the over, DC left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav bowled a googly to new man Jurel, who went for the sweep. The ball gripped and turned, hitting Jurel's pads. After a huge appeal, the umpire raised his finger.
As soon as the umpire gave Jurel out, Rahul almost instinctively walked up to Kuldeep, shaking his head and signalling that the ball had hit Jurel's forearm.
In the next moment, Jurel was seen signalling to his forearm to bating partner Nitish Rana before making the 'T" signal for the DRS.
Jurel probably knew beforehand that the ball had hit his forearm as he would have felt the impact but Rahul's indications only made his belief strong that he was not out.
The young RR batter nearly took the game away from DC. Needing 2 runs off the last ball of Mitchell Starc, he was run out for 26 off 17 while coming back for the second run. The match went into the Super Over as both teams finished with 188 runs at the end of their respective 20 overs.
Rajasthan managed just 11 runs from their Super Over after Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag hit a boundary each before both were run out, ending the innings with a ball to spare.
Needing 12 to win, KL Rahul started with a two and then hit a four before Tristan Stubbs finished off with a six on the fourth ball from Sandeep Sharma.
Earlier in the day, an in-form Rahul made 38 and put on 63 runs with Porel.
Axar then added 41 runs off 19 balls with South African Stubbs as the two hit the ball to all parts of the ground much to the delight of the home crowd as Delhi managed 77 runs from the last five overs.
