Not outs are no good: Wright points to wrongs

When Wright walked out, he looked even more distressed.

A highly-placed source close to the Indian team later confirmed to The Indian Express that Wright did protest. ‘‘We cannot complain during a match, we can only do that at the end in the captain and coach’s reports. But yes John did express his disappointment over the umpiring to Ranjan.’’

Simon Taufel and Steve Bucknor, the two officials in the middle, were in unrelenting mood the whole of Tuesday and may have committed more than one error if the TV replays are any guide. Twice Inzamam benefited, and once each Imran Farhat and Yousuf Youhana. The bowlers affected were Balaji, Kumble — the clearest, when Youhana edged to Parthiv — and Irfan.

None of the umpires or the match-referee were available for comment.

In a way, it was poetic justice for Pakistan. During the first Test, team manager Haroon Rashid spoke to Madugalle at the end of the third day’s play over ‘‘unfair’’ decisions by Taufel against Youhana and Inzamam.

As the frustration welled up among the Indian players, they fell back on that old bad habit: excessive appealing. And the offender, again, was Parthiv, who was reported by the umpires for this offence and for using foul language. He was then summoned by Madugalle, along with team manager Ratnakar Shetty, for a hearing where, after admitting his guilt, he was fined 60 per cent of his match fees.

At least one issue was sorted out on the field of play, the face-off involving old warriors Inzamam and Anil Kumble. It was all a bit overblown, the batsman complaining that the bowler had targeted him in throwing the ball back to the keeper. Words were exchanged and Rahul Dravid was called in. But when stumps was called, Inzi and Kumble walked off the field like long-lost brothers.