Melbourne: A fresh issue has popped up during the continuing Test match between India and Australia, focused on the expulsion of the young Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. The decision to give Jaiswal out has caused an uproar, especially because he was doing so well at the crease.
Jaiswal had a fantastic performance with a total of 84 runs from 208 balls and was the main contributor to India’s score. However, during the 71st over of India’s innings, he was controversially given out by the third umpire, Sharfuddoula from Bangladesh. The incident occurred when Pat Cummins bowled a short ball that Jaiswal tried to hit for a boundary. The ball did not make contact with his bat but was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. Initially, the on-field umpire Joel Wilson ruled it not out, which led Australia to review the decision.
The third umpire watched the video using various high-tech equipment like the snickometer, which did not clearly show any bat and ball contact. A glitch in the snickometer typically causes a not-out decision. In this case, however, Sharfuddoula ignored that and turned to three different angles of replays, concluding that there was indeed a deflection by Jaiswal’s glove. He commented, “I can see that the ball has touched the gloves. Joel, you need to change your decision,” which resulted in Jaiswal’s dismissal.
This call has been under fire by many former Indian cricketers and cricket analysts. In particular, Sunil Gavaskar unfolded his anger amid the commentary, mentioning that there need to be greater grounds to contradict the original call. He was of the opinion that if the field umpire ruled it not out, then it requires vast proof to alter that judgement.
BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla too joined in by tweeting against the decision, indicating that Jaiswal was undoubtedly not out and that the third umpire ought to have taken into account what the technology indicated prior to making a decision that catastrophic.
The expulsion was vital as it signalled the turning point of the match; after Jaiswal’s departure, India had difficulty in dealing with the Australian bowling attack and were eventually all out for 184 runs. This defeat allowed Australia to achieve a 2-1 upper hand in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
In the post-match press conference, Indian captain Rohit Sharma concentrated on the matter, admitting that while technology can at times mislead, it seemed that Jaiswal actually did get the ball. He stated that no technology can ever be 100% accurate and that in the past there have been dismal decisions against India as well.
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