New Delhi: It didn’t take long for the opening weekend of the new IPL season to deliver its first flashpoint, as a controversial boundary call ended an otherwise impressive win for Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Saturday.Go beyond limits with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!This incident came to light in the 14th over of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings. heinrich classen Attempted to pull a short delivery from Romario Shepherd. The ball headed towards deep midwicket where Phil Salt settled under it near the boundary cushion.When Salt completed the catch, replays raised doubts as to whether his foot had hit the boundary sponge. The third umpire, Rohan Pandit, checked from limited angles and did not see any movement of the cushion before giving Klaasen out.However, subsequent footage showed a slight movement in the cushions bearing the ‘Kingfisher’ logo, sparking the debate. The controversy deepened when a top-angle replay emerged after the broadcast break, drawing widespread scrutiny.Watch:Former England captain michael vaughn Publicly questioned the decision: “I felt like the foot touched the boundary sponge… It’s a big decision… Not sure how you can give that and absolutely make sure no part of the foot touches the sponge.”The dismissal proved crucial, halting SRH’s momentum despite a strong partnership between Klaasen and stand-in captain Ishan Kishan.

Kohli leads RCB to victory after emotional tribute

Amidst the controversy, Royal Challengers Bangalore performed brilliantly and achieved the target of 202 runs in just 15.4 overs, thanks to an excellent innings by Virat Kohli.Kohli remained unbeaten on 69 off 38 balls, hitting five fours and five sixes, including a powerful straight hit that thrilled the Bengaluru crowd.Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 201/9, with Kishan playing a brilliant inning of 80 runs. Debutant Jacob Duffy impressed for RCB with figures of 3/22 and dismissed key top-order batsmen.After this, impact substitute Devdutt Padikkal played a stormy innings of 61 runs in 26 balls and added 101 runs with Kohli.The match also had emotional significance, with players observing a minute’s silence and wearing black armbands in memory of the 11 fans killed in a stampede during last year’s celebrations.