Controversy & Ambati Rayudu are best of friends. While the dust has settled on Suryakumar Yadav's T20 World Cup Final catch, the expert has made a sensational claim on the Indian fielder's catch to dismiss David Miller, and enable a second T20 World Cup win for India. The catch Surya took was watched and replayed a lot of times by the umpire, as the final was on the line. While eventfully, the umpire went in favor of India, there were a lot of controversy surrounding the rope, as a lot of fans and critics feel the boundary rope was pushed back a little bit.
Rayudu, who was one of the commentators during the India vs South Africa T20 World Cup final, has revealed what exactly happened before the catch was taken. During the Unfiltered Podcast, the former CSK player revealed that the world feed team had placed a chair on screen at the same place to help broadcasters. When the chair was placed, the boundary rope was pushed a little bit by the team. However, despite the chair and screen being taken off, the rope remained in the same place.
"There were world feed commentators. During the break, what usually happens is they put a chair there and a screen in order to help the broadcasters see what is happening. That is why they pushed the rope backwards a little bit. But, they left it like that (even after taking the screen and the chair away). That is how the boundary became a little bigger for us. We (the commentators) could see it from above. It was god's plan," said Rayudu during the chat on the podcast.
Ambati Rayudu's U-turn surrounding Surya's T20 WC final catch
Ambati Rayudu – "The broadcaster indirectly helped Surya with that catch. If the rope was inside, it was a clear six."
Later, Rayudu covered it up, saying God was with us. When Suryakumar Yadav was quizzed after the match about the catch, he stated:
"I don't know if it was a six (in natural circumstances) or not. If the rope had been placed at its normal position, maybe Surya would've run from inside."
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On the controversy around the match turning catch, Rayudu gave a statement that it was a "clean catch". "End of the day, God was with us," he concluded.
This is not the first time that the expert has said a controversial statement; notably, he always makes such statements against RCB during commentating in IPL. Rayudu had also rubbed the BCCI the wrong way when he played rival ICL league in late 2000s before IPL. He also later mocked the selectors after he was snubbed for the ODI World Cup 2019 squad. In the IPL 2025 season, the expert was also criticized by fans for being biased towards MS Dhoni & CSK.
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