'Nahi yaar isko out na karo' - Harbhajan Singh's cheeky take on Abishek Porel's reprieve in DC vs RR IPL 2025 match [Watch]

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh jokingly insinuated that the Rajasthan Royals (RR) deliberately opted against taking a review against Delhi Capitals (DC) batter Abishek Porel after the umpire failed to detect a faint edge. The incident occurred during the last ball of the 13th over of the first innings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, April 16.

Porel tried to execute a ramp shot off Jofra Archer's bouncer, but failed to connect. The ball was collected by Sanju Samson comfortably, and it all looked innocuous at first. Ultra-edge, however, showed a faint edge just as the ball was passing by the toe end of the bat.

There was no appeal by the bowler, the wicket-keeper, or the close-in fielders in the circle. Archer had just dismissed KL Rahul earlier in the same over, and the double strike would have meant two new batters at the crease at a crucial phase of the innings. At that point, the left-handed player was unbeaten on 49 runs off 36 balls, and had only scored seven runs off his last eight deliveries.

Harbhajan Singh joked that RR have let this go so as to keep Porel around for as long as possible and avoid big-hitters to follow like Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma. Have a look at the incident here:

"It was a faint edge. What might be happening here is that RR are thinking, 'Nahi yaar isko out na karo (No man, let's not take his wicket)', because the batters after that will hit a lot more," Harbhajan Singh said on Star Sports.

Teams have been forced to employ the option of retiring out their batters if they feel the need for it in such circumstances. Mumbai Indians' (MI) Tilak Verma and Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) Devon Conway have been subjected to the same after failing to get the hits away when needed.

Abishek Porel was dismissed off the very next ball that he faced in DC vs RR IPL 2025 match

Porel regained the strike after four balls as Tristan Stubbs played out Wanindu Hasaranga. Desperate for a big hit, the left-handed batter took on the mystery spinner, only to be caught by Riyan Parag at long off.

At the time of the dismissal, DC were placed at 105-4 in the 14th over. From there, DC were able to post 188 on the board following stellar cameos by Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, and Axar Patel.