BBL 2018 kicks off with the spirit of cricket at its helm

The Strikers won the toss and decided to bowl first. Rashid Khan was the star with the ball, returning figures of 3/19 to help dismantle the Heat for 146, while Alex Carey (70 from 46 balls) was the pivot as the Strikers completed the chase with five wickets in hand at the Gabba.

The moment of the match, however, sprung from the appeal for run-out against Pattinson in the 13th over of the game. While the referral showed that the batsman had made his ground with a dive before Carey dislodged the bails, the TV umpire pressed the "OUT" button.

All players on the pitch were flabbergasted, even as Pattinson remained at the crease with a confused look on his face. Once the confirmation came that there was no technical error but that the umpire had indeed given Pattinson out, Ingram rescinded his appeal, thus giving the batsman a second life.

"We could see on the big screen that James was in," said Carey during the game. "So we just told the umpire that we all acknowledge that he was in and free to bat on.

"It said on the big board that it was 'out' and Simon said the [decision] stays, so we said fair play, bat on. I'm not sure what was seen upstairs but no worries from us."

"It was a unique scenario, I ended up chatting with Benny Laughlin, and he said what is the option with withdrawing the appeal, so the initial idea came from him," said Ingram, the Strikers skipper.

"We can all clearly see that it wasn't out, you'll look like an idiot on TV if it isn't, but we've got to back what we saw and most of our boys were happy and just wanted to get on with the game.

"I didn't know if it was an option or not. All we wanted to do was get the right decision. I thought maybe they'd pressed the wrong button or something like that. It was just part of the game today."