Karma strikes! After not given run out by 3rd umpire, Travis Head departs on very next ball

In the 50th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), the 14.3rd over, Avesh Khan bowled a full delivery outside off, with Travis Head shuffling across to chase it. He lost his balance and stepped out of the crease, while Sanju Samson underarmed a throw onto the stumps. Head plonked his bat in instead of sliding it, and though it was in the air, the third umpire gave it as Not Out. "That bat was surely in the air," commented Simon Katich on air.

“Hey Avesh bhai, whose wicket did you take?”

Avesh bhai: pic.twitter.com/vSOFjd2MO6

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 2, 2024

Everyone, including commentators, fans, and the RR dugout, expressed unhappiness and furry with this decision. However, the Men in Pink did not have to wait long as karma struck quite soon when Head was bowled on the very next ball. The decision of Not Out did not cost Rajasthan anything. It was a full delivery angled outside off, and Head moved across his stumps to play the lap shot. However, he ended up playing it onto his stumps, with the middle stump uprooted. His knock came to an end, scoring 58 runs from 44 balls [4s-6, 6s-3].

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Sunil Gavaskar remarked on air, "instant karma," and fans agreed as they took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express their thoughts about the third umpire.

That was clearly in the air, anyway karma strikes the very next ball.

Now fuck off Travis Head🤣👍

— momo_addict (@momoaddict1) May 2, 2024

Travis head got out in very next ball of avesh khan #karma #ipl #SRHvsRR #travishead #SanjuSamson

— SHUBHAM AGGARWAL (@shubham1491625) May 2, 2024

Sanju Samson showing brilliant presence of mind behind stumping once again. And such a poor third umpiring 😡.
But instant karma got in favour of RR rightly today. Travis Head bowled himself in next ball 😂😂 #SRHvRR #RRvSRH

— GlimmerGalaxy (@nehalambalamba) May 2, 2024

Sharma Karma ❌

Actual Karma ✅#SRHvsRR #TravisHead #Umpires #runout pic.twitter.com/YMe7GJg4hi

— 𝐑 𝐎 𝐁 𝐈 𝐍 𝕏 (@Brutal_kingz) May 2, 2024

As for the clash, after 17 overs, SRH, who won the toss and opted to bat first, posted 162 runs and lost 3 wickets. Nitish Reddy reached his half-century in the 15th over after a struggle early on. Abhishek Sharma departed for 12 off 10, bowled by Avesh Khan, while Anmolpreet Singh was dismissed for 5 off 5 by Sandeep Sharma. 

Teams:

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sandeep Sharma

Impact Subs: Jos Buttler, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Tanush Kotian

Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Nitish Reddy, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Marco Jansen, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan

Impact Subs: Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Aiden Markram, Sanvir Singh, Jaydev Unadkat.