Chandigarh: The second qualifier, to decide which team will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the final of IPL 2026, got off to a bizarre start at Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, on Friday evening.
Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill and his Rajasthan Royals counterpart Riyan Parag were left confused at the toss.
It was Gill who flipped the coin and Parag called. As the coin landed on the turf, toss presenter Ravi Shastri, match referee Prakash Bhatt and the two captains looked at each other. Gill felt he had won the toss but apparently, Parag’s call hadn’t been loud enough and was not heard by the match referee.
Shastri said that the toss will take place once again as the “call was not the loudest”. This time, Parag’s call of ‘Heads’ was loud enough and he opted to bat first after winning the toss.
Viewers who were glued to their television sets saw what happened. Within minutes, social media users took to X to express their feelings.
Many felt it was a case of toss fixing, while some slammed the match referee for not hearing Parag’s first call.
“Everybody heard the call apart from the match referee! He should’ve confirmed it with the broadcaster instead of spinning the coin for the second time,” one user commented, sharing the clip of the confusion.
Everybody heard the call apart from the match referee! He should’ve confirmed it with the broadcaster instead of spinning the coin for the second time. #GTvsRR #ipl #toss #qualifier2 #RRvGT pic.twitter.com/xQPq8U6uUZ
— Prasad Gangurde (@two2prasad) May 29, 2026
“Shubham Gill tossed the coin & Riyan Parag made a call of Heads & the coin showed Tails, but toss referee Prakash Bhatt didn’t hear call & asked Gill to toss it again. Is match fixed,” opined another.
“Clear toss fixing in IPL… Ban this league as soon as possible, it’s a disgrace to world cricket 🙏 They’re shamelessly fixing toss in big qualifier,” commented another viewer.
“@IPL toss is fixed in favor of @rajasthanroyals.. Clip1: Referee did not hear after coin touching the ground. He might have seen through distance that @rajasthanroyals lost the toss. Clip2: Obviously @RaviShastriOfc won’t entertain disappointment from Shubhman,” said one user.
“Deaf match referees like Prakash Bhatt should be sacked for a blunder like this. We all can hear what Parag said on TV, but you want us to believe you can’t hear it? Shubman Gill has way too much class to not do a over reaction at toss for this,” posted one netizen.
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