The premier Australian off-spinner, Nathan Lyon got the only breakthrough of the first session of Day 2 of the ongoing final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) when he dismissed Hanuma Vihari caught to end the 101-run partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara midway through the session after India resumed the day at the score of 303-4.
Vihari only managed to add three more runs to his overnight score of 39, before edging a sweep shot off Lyon onto his upper-arm and was caught by Marnus Labuschagne at bat-pad for 42. Vihari decided to go for DRS straightaway.
Even Lyon was not convinced as he suggested to his teammates that the ball took his biceps, not the bat. The replays were quite confusing. When the third umpire Marais Erasmus asked for snicko, there was a small spike and he ruled him out immediately. However, there was a lot of daylight between the bat and ball and the umpire should have taken more time before giving his decision.
WATCH – Pat Cummins Almost Injured Hanuma Vihari
Here is the video of the dismissal:
Here's the video of Hanuma Vihari's dismissal. Was it out or not out? #AUSvINDpic.twitter.com/Z206Otzq1z
— News18 CricketNext (@cricketnext) January 4, 2019
Former Aussie players Michael Clarke and Michael Hussey claimed that Vihari was not-out.
Talking to Sony Sports, Clarke said, “I don’t think that was out. The thing about snicko is it can catch a noise even if your feet ruffles the ground or your hands or feet move along the ground because you look at Hanuma, he went for the review straightaway and even Nathan Lyon was not sure if he had hit the ball.”
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On the other hand, Hussey said, “Well I think it’s very controversial to be honest, I didn’t think it was out. I thought there was a gap between the ball and the bat and certainly the movement of the Snicko didn’t marry up when the ball was passing the bat. Where that noise came from, it could be a spike scraping along the ground or it could have been anything. But personally speaking, I don’t think he hit the ball.”
