Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf du Plessis on Sunday expressed his disagreement with the decision to give Virat Kohli out after the latter was caught off a full-toss by Harshit Rana on his own bowling.
The Hawk-Eye system that measures no-balls for height came into play when Kohli was dismissed for a 7-ball 18 during RCB’s chase of 223 against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
“It was crazy, rules are rules. Virat and myself thought that the ball was higher than the waist (during Kohli's dismissal). I guess they measured it from the popping crease, one team thinks it's high, the other doesn't. That's how the game goes at times,” Du Plessis said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
The delivery, which seemed to be dipping on the batter, was just above the waist of Kohli when he made contact with the ball.
The star batter was standing just outside the crease at that moment.
Then TV umpire Michael Gough checked for the height and as per the Hawk-Eye tracking, the ball would have passed Kohli’s waist at a height of 0.92 meters had he been standing and upright at the crease.
In that position, Kohli’s waist was measured at 1.04 meters, which meant the ball would have travelled past below the batter’s waistline if he was standing inside the crease.
In that case, this would have been a legal delivery and the Gough had to take a call based on the available height reference.
However, Kohli left the field an agitated man after having an animated discussion with the on-field umpire. The frustrated Kohli knocked the waste bin located near away team dressing room in anger.