Rajat Patidar had pulled Arshad Khan to the right of deep square-leg. Holder rushed across, Rabada converging too before pulling out at the last instant. Holder lunged to pouch it — and then the questions started. Did the ball touch the ground as he went down? Did he use the ball itself to push himself back up, pressing it into the turf? Holder’s fingers were under it, or they weren’t. RCB thought one thing. The third umpire thought another.
At Lord’s in 2023, Mitchell Starc dived to take a catch off Ben Duckett at fine leg, the ball scraping along the turf as he slid around the boundary. Australia were convinced it was out. The third umpire disagreed.
The MCC subsequently clarified why, pointing to Law 33.3, which states that a catch is completed only when the fielder has complete control over both the ball and their movement. Starc, the MCC said, was still sliding when the ball made contact with the ground — and therefore not in control of his movement. The Holder catch at Ahmedabad raised the same question, in almost identical circumstances.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop said the moment Holder slid along the ground deserved a second look. His concern was not the initial take but what followed — whether Holder’s fingers were truly under the ball as he used his hand to push himself up, and whether a fielder still in motion along the ground can be considered in control of their body.
“To me, doubt there about ball and ground because you’re not in control of your body until you stop sliding,” Bishop said.
Former India opener Abhinav Mukund went further, invoking the same logic the MCC had applied to Starc. A fielder who puts the ball down to get up, he argued, has not completed the catch.
“If the ball touches the ground, to me, it’s not out,” he said. “You’re an extremely fit international athlete. You don’t need your hands or a ball to get up.”
The third umpire ruled in Holder’s favour. Patidar departed for 19. RCB felt strongly enough to have Kohli approach the fourth umpire at the time. These are the millimetres that matches turn on — and on Thursday night in Ahmedabad, they turned GT’s way.
