PKL 2022: Telugu Titans robbed? The last-minute controversial raid which left everyone confused - Explained

The Tamil Thalaivas beat the Telugu Titans 39-30 in the 60th match of Pro Kabaddi League season 9 on Saturday night, but there was a controversial end to the game that caused confusion between players and fans alike.

After the match, Telugu Titans expressed their outrage at the 'unfair umpiring' on social media as Tamil Thalaivas were awarded 6 points and they tackled Siddharth to make it 3 more and Titans lost the game.

Here's what went down on the mat:

Fair decision or Umpiring Blunder?

With 90 seconds to go on the clock, Telugu Titans were trailing by 29-30 but had the numerical advantage.

Tamil Thalaivas' Ajinkya Pawar went on a raid and he was tackled by the Telugu defence. With six players tackling him, it looked like he was out. But the defence of Telugu Titans had a brain fade moment.

They let Ajinkya Pawar loose with the timer still on and without the referee blowing his whistle. Ajinkya Pawar made use of this mistake and crossed the mid-line to score a monster raid and put Tamil Thalaivas beyond the reach of Telugu Titans.

What does the rule say?

As stated by the commentators, the referee didn't blow the whistle. But still, the Telugu Titans assumed that their tackle was successful. This confusion led to them leaving the raider. Ajinkya Pawar showed his presence of mind to cross the line.

The rule says that any raid or tackle is not over till the referee blows the whistle or the raid time ends. As seen in this screengrab the raid timer has an ample amount of time left when Ajinkya was under the hold of the Telugu defence.

But two different angles of the broadcast suggest that the referee might have asked to stop the tackle.

In these two screengrabs, the umpires can be seen indicating to stop the play with the whistle in their mouth. The Telugu Titans bench protested and even the players looked confused.

Telugu Titans fan outrage

After the match, fans of Telugu Titans claimed the match ended with an unfair decision. Social media bristled with comments from the team's fans. "Unfair", "Poor umpiring standards" were some of the comments on the official page of Pro Kabaddi.

With the confusion surrounding the decision and no official statement yet from any of the parties involved, the umpiring standards in the league have been brought into question.

The decision was crucial in the outcome of the game and Telugu Titans will feel hard done as they missed out on their second win.

Rule Clarification

As per sources from PKL, it was a lawful decision. In such scenarios where multiple players are involved in the struggle, referees try to make sure there are no injury concerns. When 6 defenders were over Ajinkya Pawar and as seen in the screengrabs, the referee is indicative of injury and didn't blow the whistle.

According to the Pro Kabaddi League rulebook, A raid can be terminated a) When time is over, b) When the raider breaks the chant and, c) When umpires blow the whistle.

In this scenario, the time was there, raider was chanting and umpire didn't blow the whistle making it a legal raid.