Anil Kumble became the first cricketer to call for a referral — and get turned down. Tillakaratne Dilshan became the first batsman to call for one when given out — and the first to get a verdict overturned.There were a few never-seen-before sights on the field today, the obvious one being players forming a ‘T’ with their hands when they didn’t quite agree with the on-field umpires and the review countdown on the scoreboard at the ground. One of the more interesting sights though, was the strange expressions on the faces of Indian fielders when their seemingly confident appeals were turned down by the umpires. and they still didn’t signal the T. Not only does the ICC’s experimental referral system eliminate the obvious errors of the field umpires, it also, at times, exposes the lack of conviction behind high-decibel appeals.Twice the third umpire upheld the on-field umpire’s ‘not out’ decision, both times with Harbhajan Singh and Dinesh Karthik confident they had got their man. Here are circumstances of the three referrals seen during the day.• Warnapura is just 14 runs short of his hundred when he is rapped on the pad by Harbhajan. The ball has pitched on leg-and-middle before straightening. Mark Benson negates the Indian appeal and Kumble asks for the third umpire’s intervention. Rudi Koertzen uses the ball tracker that shows the trajectory of the ball till it hits the pad and decides it would’ve missed the stumps. India’s first referral, the first in cricket history, is wasted.• Dilshan is on one when Zaheer appeals for caught behind. Benson rules him out but Dilshan asks for a referral. Slow motion replays show Dilshan hasn’t edged the ball. He becomes the first batsman in the history to have survived the dreaded finger thanks to the referral system.• Dilshan misses a sweep off Harbhajan and there is another leg-before appeal. Benson rules it not out and the third umpire agrees as replay shows the ball going down the leg-side. India left with just one referral for the innings.
