Indian captain Rohit Sharma shared his surprise after Rishabh Pant’s controversial dismissal in the second innings of the third Test match against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
In the 22nd over of the run-chase (147), Pant was going strongly at 64 before he decided to step down the track against Ajaz Patel. The left-hander didn’t get to the pitch of the ball and decided to play a defensive shot, which ballooned to wicket-keeper Tom Blundell.
The on-field umpire Richard Illingworth gave it not out but New Zealand skipper Tom Latham decided to send the referral to the third umpire, Paul Reiffel. On replay, it was shown that there was a spike when the ball was next to the bat but at the same time, the bat was also hitting the pad, which Pant seemed to have suggested to the on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Michael Gough as Reiffel was going through the replay.
However, the on-field decision was overturned by the Australian umpire despite no conclusive evidence and it turned the match on its head.
“About that dismissal, I honestly, I don’t know. If we say something, it is not accepted well,” Rohit began in the post-match press conference. “But if there is no conclusive evidence, it has to go, it has to stand with the umpire’s on-field decision. That is what I have been told. So, I don’t know how that decision was overturned since the umpire didn’t give him out.
“You know, the bat was clearly close to the pad. So, again, I don’t know if it is the right thing for me to talk about. It is something for the umpires to think about. Have the same rules for every team, not keep changing their mind. But again, that dismissal actually was very, very crucial from our point of view. Rishabh was really looking good at that point and it felt like he will take us through. But it was an unfortunate dismissal, got out and then we were bowled out right after that.”
On the other hand, New Zealand skipper Tom Latham said the close-in fielders heard two noises and that’s why they decided to go for the review.
“Yeah a few of us heard two noises so I guess when you review it in that situation you know you leave it up to the umpire’s hands, so we can’t necessarily see the footage that the third umpire gets so yeah, that’s certainly out of our control in terms of what and what that may look like.”
New Zealand registered a 25-run win to claim the series by 3-0.
