“Maybe it was…”- Rovman Powell reacts to ‘umpiring blunder’ during IPL 2026 clash vs LSG

Many Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fans would claim that they were sold down the river with the dismissal of Finn Allen on the boundary rope during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The umpire didn’t even check the catch once before raising his finger.

The replays later showed that a few replays could have changed the decision and put it in favor of the home side. But that wasn’t the only reason for Kolkata’s defeat, as the LSG captain, Rishabh Pant, won the toss and put the home team into batting, expecting the dew to arrive and make batting easy.

Rovman Powell points out ‘umpiring blunder’ in IPL 2026

The KKR and West Indies all-rounder, Rovman Powell, has criticized the umpiring blunder after losing the fixture against Lucknow. The mistake happened in just the second over of the encounter as the New Zealand batter was dismissed controversially.

“Definitely (more angles should have been looked at). We talked about that when he came off. We thought we had seen in the IPL that the umpires have gone upstairs for lesser things, and things that are not as close as that.” Powell expressed in the post-match press conference.

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“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 added in the interaction.

Powell puts Kolkata surface under scanner

Even though the former West Indies captain didn’t blame the surface for their narrow defeat, it was a bit slow to start with the bat for the new batters. From 128/7 after 16 overs, LSG pulled off a three-wicket win in the last-ball thriller as it was powered by the stunning knock from Mukul Choudhary, who smashed 54* in 27 balls with seven sixes and two fours. 

“You want to make Eden Gardens your fortress, it’s your home with your fans behind you. It always feels good at home, but credit to the youngster (Mukul), he batted really well.” Powell addressed.

“It’s not that classic Eden Gardens wicket where you just go and turn around the strike and blast. It was not a 220-wicket; there was a little bit in it for the bowlers, especially when they used the slower balls.” He concluded.

Kolkata, three defeats and one no-result in four encounters, are at the ninth position and will now travel to the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the next encounter against the Chennai Super Kings.