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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players Sunil Narine and Anrich Nortje found themselves at the centre of a rare equipment-related controversy as their bats failed the gauge test during their IPL 2025 clash against Punjab Kings on Tuesday.
The incident occurred at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, where Punjab Kings successfully defended a modest 111-run total, the lowest total ever defended in IPL history, to pull off a remarkable win.
As KKR prepared to chase 112, reserve umpire Saiyed Khalid was seen checking bats near the boundary line, just before the start of the innings.
Sunil Narine, opening the innings alongside young Angkrish Raghuvanshi, was stopped briefly as his bat failed to pass through the ICC-mandated bat gauge, due to excessive thickness. In contrast, Raghuvanshi’s bat was cleared without any issues.
Narine, despite the bat drama, came out to open the innings but couldn’t make an impact. He managed just 5 runs off 4 balls before being dismissed early in the chase.
Later, in the 16th over, with KKR nine wickets down and chasing a fading target, last-man Anrich Nortje walked in, only to be stopped by on-field umpires Mohit Krishnadas and Saidharshan Kumar.
TV commentators revealed that Nortje’s bat, too, had failed the compliance check. Play was temporarily halted as KKR’s substitute player Rahmanullah Gurbaz sprinted in with a set of replacement bats.
One of them passed the gauge test, but Nortje didn’t even get to use it. On the very next ball, Andre Russell was bowled, ending KKR’s innings at 95 in 15.1 overs.
According to IPL equipment regulations, a bat must adhere to strict dimensions: a maximum width of 10.79 cm, blade thickness of up to 6.7 cm, edge thickness not exceeding 4 cm, and total length no more than 96.4 cm.
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