AUS vs IND 2024-25: Simon Taufel dissects KL Rahul's controversial DRS dismissal in Perth Test

India took on Australia in the first Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth on November 22. Stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah won the toss and opted to bat first. The visitors lost Yashasvi Jaiswal cheaply as he walked out for a duck. His fellow opener KL Rahul kept defending the balls and left some outside off deliveries to hold one end up. On the other side, Devdutt Padikkal got out for a duck and Virat Kohli walked back with just five runs. 

Rahul’s resilience was palpable before his dismissal became the point of debate. Mitchell Starc bowled a fuller delivery angling outside and the Australians appealed as they heard a nick. While the on-field umpire ruled Rahul not out, the Aussies challenged the decision through DRS. The replays on review showed a spike as the ball passed the bat, however, there was conclusive evidence to turn the on-field call. Despite that, the third umpire ruled Rahul out after taking a look at only two angles of the event, leading to a controversy right on the opening day of the marquee series. Meanwhile, former umpire Simon Taufel has come forward to clarify that the angle which the replays were shown were deceitful.

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"Umpires are looking for conclusive evidence. There were a few gremlins at the start of that review, being the first Test where he didn't get some camera angles he was asking for," Taufel said on the Channel Seven broadcast.

"Richard Illingworth had a tough job there, but this camera angle is probably the best one for me, it shows that the ball does graze the outside edge. In my view the ball does graze the outside edge which has caused the scuff marks, but then the bat goes on to hit the pad. So I think from a batter's perspective, they are looking to see that evidence on the big screens as the decision is made. I think that's exactly why KL Rahul has a question mark on his mind and Richard Kettleborough as well. I imagine there will be an interesting discussion in the umpires room in the lunch break." he added.

Here's Simon Raufel's remark on Rahul's wicket:

Rahul walked off as the DRS went against him and he scored 26 runs off 74 balls. On the other, dormer Australia cricketer, Matthew Hayden sided with the philosophy of giving the benefit of doubt to the batter in such cases. He pointed that the spike in the snicko could have been due to the bat hitting the pad, which is what Rahul also seemingly pointed out to the on-field umpires. However, the decision was made and Rahul had to walk back.

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"His pad and bat are not together at that point in time as the ball passes. It's (bat hitting pad) after, in fact, the ball passes the edge. Does Snicko pick up the sound of the bat hitting the pad? We're assuming (Snicko) may be the outside edge of the bat but that may not be the case,” Hayden said.