England cricket team had a forgettable day on the second day of the third Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. They were bundled out for 161 runs as the Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya ran through them with his maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket. After Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings’ 54-run opening stand, the Brits felt like dominos. In the meantime, there was a controversy surrounding the dismissal of the English skipper Joe Root.
Pandya was introduced in the 25th over and the decision immediately paid rich dividends as he picked up the English captain in his very first delivery. The ball bounced off a length and hit the splice of the bat, safely into the hands of KL Rahul in the slip cordon. However, at first glance, the ball seemed to have hit the turf before huddling into palms of the slip fielder.
The third umpire saw from every angle possible and after having a long look, he eventually reckoned that the catch was clean. Root wasn’t happy with the dismissal and showed his disagreement after being given out. Meanwhile, former cricketers like Mark Butcher, Kumar Sangakkara, and Michael Vaughan mentioned that the third umpire made the correct decision.
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Butcher tweeted about the same and wrote, “(The) ball travels horizontally, not vertically towards an object that is curved, not flat. Therefore the ball can and did in this case, bounce off the fingers into the palms. Out!”
Thoughts on the Root dismissal. Ball travels horizontally, not vertically towards an object that is curved, not flat. Therefore the ball can, and did in this case, bounce off the fingers into the palms. Out! #EngvInd
— mark butcher (@markbutcher72) August 19, 2018
“A lot of controversy over the catch – I thought he was caught. I think it bounces off the finger.” Vaughan was quoted as saying by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
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Sangakkara also agreed with the third umpire on the decision during his commentary for Sky Sports. He said, “It does look out … it looked as if the fingers were underneath the ball. You do need conclusive evidence to overturn any signal from the on-field umpires.”
The Indian team is having a huge lead of 292 runs with 8 wickets in hand and the hosts now need some herculean efforts to turn their fortunes around with three days remaining in the encounter.
