Watch: Gautam Gambhir left baffled by KL Rahul's costly drop as LSG skipper gives in-form Karthik a reprieve
As KL Rahul gave Dinesh Karthik a costly reprieve, Gautam Gambhir had his moment of celebration turned into one of despair.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team mentor Gautam Gambhir was seen wearing a look of dismay on his face after skipper KL Rahul's costly drop catch allowed an in-form Dinesh Karthik a reprieve that his team paid heavily for in the IPL 2022 Eliminator on Wednesday (May 25).
Anticipating Rahul to grab an easy chance off the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) powerhitter's bat at mid-off, Gambhir initially started celebrating for the wicket.
But his celebrations turned into a moment of despair for the former India opener as he saw Rahul shelve the opportunity and mess up an important chance in the game.
To add salt to injury for Rahul and Gautam Gambhir, Karthik, who was batting only on 2 at the point of the drop catch, went on to blast another critical knock in the end-overs for RCB.
Gautam Gambhir emotes pain after KL Rahul lets go easy catching opportunity
A bundle of emotion, Gautam Gambhir was seen baffled after the drop catch from Rahul. It happened in the back half of the 15th over in RCB's first-innings batting effort. Trying to hit left-arm pacer Mohsin Khan to the on-side, Karthik ended up slicing the ball comfortably to mid-off where Rahul was expected to take the easy catch.
Seeing the ball lob up to Rahul's direction, Gambhir, sitting in the LSG dug out, began clapping in anticipation of the catch. But his moment of celebration turned into one of dismay after he saw Rahul mess up what was the easiest of catching chances.
Watch: Avesh Khan sends Virat Kohli off with some over-the-top clapping
Rahul did the first part of the catch right by quickly getting around the ball and making a timely dive at it. He also had the ball in his hands for a split second, only for him to loose its grip upon landing on the turf to leave Gambhir with a swim of emotions.
— Yashi (@Smash_Jaiswal) May 25, 2022
A very expressive cricketer in his own right, Gautam Gambhir couldn't help but sway away with the emotion seeing Rahul gobble up what should've been an easy catch. To add to his misery, he then saw Karthik smash the bowling to all parts and finish with another influential knock, scoring 37* off 23 balls to take RCB to a daunting 207/4.