Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Rovman Powell was blunt after an umpiring call in their IPL 2026 clash against Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens on Thursday. He said the on-field officials should have escalated Digvesh Rathi’s boundary catch to the third umpire, after which opening batter Finn Allen was sent back for 9 off 8 balls in the second over.
What happened at the boundary
- Match: KKR vs Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), IPL 2026
- Venue and day: Eden Gardens, Thursday
- Key incident: Digvesh Rathi’s catch near the boundary ropes
- Batter dismissed: Finn Allen (9 off 8 balls) in the second over
- Bowler involved: Prince Yadav
Prince Yadav opened with a back-of-a-length delivery, and Allen tried to clear the line. The ball came off the top edge and headed toward the third-man region, where Rathi moved in to secure the chance near the rope.
Rathi was positioned extremely close to the boundary. As the ball seemed set to run away, he steadied himself on the edge of the boundary cushion, angled his body to the left, and took the catch with both hands.
Powell’s contention was that the decision should have been reviewed. The umpires initially appeared satisfied with what they saw, so Allen walked back without a referral, even though later replays suggested Rathi may have put a foot on the cushion.
That said, the visuals were not clear enough to establish a definitive conclusion. With no concrete evidence emerging from the replay angles available, the original call stood.
Powell on the post-match controversy
After KKR endured a heartbreaking three-wicket loss at Eden Gardens, Powell argued that the officials should have gone upstairs. Still, he insisted the team would not hide behind the controversy or treat it as a reason for dropping points.
“Definitely, more angles should have been looked at,” Powell said in the post-match press conference. He added that in past IPL moments, decisions had been reviewed even for smaller margins, noting that this particular chance looked close enough to warrant a referral.
Powell also stopped short of saying the error directly cost the match. “Maybe it was a blunder on their part, but we’re not going to look into that and say that is what cost us two points tonight,” he said.
Mukul Choudhary’s late finishing role
Earlier, KKR set a target of 181 after batting first. For much of the innings, it looked like the hosts would cruise, especially after Lucknow lost Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant and Nicholas Pooran with the scoreboard still not moving heavily.
However, the chase flipped in the closing stages. Lower-order batter Mukul Choudhary produced a match-changing spell, striking an unbeaten 54 off just 27 balls, guiding LSG to the finish on the last ball of the game with three wickets in hand.
KKR are yet to register a win in IPL 2026 and have already suffered two defeats at their home ground, Eden Gardens. Powell acknowledged how disappointing it was to fail again in front of their home crowd.
“It’s very disappointing. You want to make Kolkata, you want to make Eden Gardens as your fortress. It’s your home, it’s your home where you have your fans behind you. So it always feels good to win at home. But, unfortunately, tonight we weren’t able to,” Powell said.
He also pointed to positives from KKR’s batting effort. “A lot of credit has to be given to the boys. I think after scoring 181, we believed that we could have won the game. But credit to the youngster, he batted really well,” Powell added.
