Was Harshal Patel’s catch of Ayush Badoni legitimate? Here’s what ICC rules say

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) won their first game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season on Thursday. Rishabh Pant and his side beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets and 23 balls to spare. Veteran Indian pacer Harshal Patel pulled off a stunning catch to dismiss LSG batter Ayush Badoni. 

Adam Zampa’s flighted ball saw the batter go for a slog sweep, which was mistimed. Harshal Patel took a great running catch and immediately threw the ball in the air. The batter made his way off the park after scoring just six runs with the bat. Many cricket fans are wondering if the catch was indeed legitimate. 

Watch the video here 

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓. 𝐀. 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 😮

Watch Harshal Patel's stunning grab running in from the deep 🔝

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The biggest question arose after Patel threw the ball in the air after taking the catch. During the India vs Australia Champions Trophy semi-finals, Shubman Gill was spoken to by the umpires. The Indian batter had thrown the ball in the air after taking the catch of Travis Head. 

What does the rulebook state?

According to the rules, “The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his own movement." Many fans compared it to Herschelle Gibbs taking the catch of Steve Waugh and immediately throwing it in the air. 

Australian skipper Steve Waugh was given not out as Gibbs wasn’t in complete control of the ball. The incident happened in the Super Six stages of the 1999 ODI World Cup in Leeds and Waugh scored an unbeaten century. It was after this incident that the Aussie skipper reportedly told Gibbs, “You have dropped the World Cup." If LSG had put in an official appeal the batter would have continued his stay at the wicket. 

Speaking about the game, SRH were put into bat first after LSG won the toss and managed to score 190 on the board. Travis Head (47) and Aniket Verma with 36 were the best batters for the hosts. Shardul Thakur picked up four wickets and was named man of the match for his performance. Lucknow saw Nicholas Pooran lead the chase with 70 off 26 balls while Mitchell Marsh scored 52 runs from 29 balls.