Xavier Bartlett did something in Tuesday’s IPL clash between PBKS and KKR that’s going straight into the Hall of WTF Moments in Cricket History.
It was the eighth over. KKR were chasing a modest 112. Venkatesh Iyer swept Yuzvendra Chahal toward square leg, where Bartlett sprinted to collect it. So far, so standard. But what happened next had fans rubbing their eyes. Bartlett picked up the ball cleanly, wound up for the throw—and then… gravity betrayed him.
The ball slipped right out of his hand, in the opposite direction, bouncing behind him and rolling casually over the boundary rope. Fielding fail? Sure. But also—rulebook drama.
While everyone expected four runs, the umpires awarded five to KKR. The twist? Iyer and Raghuvanshi had already completed a run before the throw went rogue. According to the MCC’s Law 19.8, if a boundary results from an overthrow, the batting team gets the runs they completed plus the boundary. So that’s 1 (run completed) + 4 (boundary) = five.
Social media lit up instantly. Some called it the “slip of the season,” others likened it to a cricket blooper reel. But amidst the chaos, Bartlett did redeem himself—taking a key catch in the 10th over to dismiss Raghuvanshi and swinging momentum back to PBKS.
In the end, PBKS edged out KKR in a low-scoring thriller, with Chahal bagging four wickets and Bartlett turning meme into match-winner. But for one surreal moment in Mullanpur, cricket fans witnessed a perfect storm of comedy, confusion, and clause 19.8.
Because sometimes, in the IPL, it’s not the bat or the ball—it’s the butterfingers that steal the show.
