India made a roaring comeback into the five-match T20I series against England as they won the fourth T20I by eight runs on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
The hosts were asked to bat first by Eoin Morgan and Virat Kohli’s team posted a par score of 185 runs.
However, there were a couple of controversial third umpire decisions which went against the Indian team. Suryakumar Yadav played his maiden International innings and he was able to hit the ground running. The Mumbai batsman also completed his first fifty off just 28 balls as he timed the ball to perfection.
But Yadav didn’t have the rub of the green on his side as he was controversially given out. Umpire KN Anantha Padmanabhan gave the soft signal as out after Dawid Malan claimed the catch at deep fine-leg.
However, after looking at multiple replays from different angles, it looked like Malan didn’t have his fingers beneath the ball and the ball may have touched the ground. But, there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the decision, and the third umpire Virender Sharma had to stay with the on-field call, which was out.
Similarly, Washington Sundar was given out when there was some doubt whether Adil Rashid had touched the rope with his foot.
The Indian skipper Virat Kohli was not at all impressed by these close calls and asked the governing body to look at the rules of ‘soft signal’. In fact, there is no doubt it is not easy for an umpire to make a call when he is standing 70 meters away from the fielder. Thus, the soft signal doesn’t make much sense as the third umpire can not overturn the decision unless he has conclusive evidence on replays.
Kohli said in the post-match presentation, “There was an instance during the Test series when I was next to Jinks and he clearly caught the ball but he wasn’t sure so we went upstairs. If it is a half and half effort and the fielder is in doubt, there is no way the umpire from the square leg can see it clearly. The soft signal becomes that important and it becomes tricky. I don’t know why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires as well. It is similar to the umpire’s call as well. These are decisions that can change the course of the game, especially in these big games. We were on the receiving side today, and tomorrow it could be some other team. You want these ironed out and keep the game really simple and linear. It isn’t ideal in high-pressure games and we want a lot of clarity on the field”.
These calls can be the difference between win and loss and the ICC must address the rules as the standing umpire is not in a good position to make a decision especially if the catch is taken outside the 30-yard circle.
The deciding T20I of the series will be played on Saturday.
