Indian star batter Shubman Gill looked flabbergasted with his controversial dismissal off Scott Boland by the third umpire Richard Kettleborough in the 4th Day of the WTC final on Saturday. He posted a picture on Twitter of the catch taken by Cameron Green with the caption “🔎🔎🤦🏻♂️”.
At the stroke of tea, Scott Boland got one to bounce little extra from length and it flew from ball the shoulder of Gill’s blade only to be scooped up inches off the ground by a diving Green, stationed at gully. Gill scored 18 in an opening stand of 41 and was looking in good rhythm.
As tea was called, a dejected Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was seen having a chat with on-field umpires while trudging back to pavilion.
Ricky Ponting speaking on the ICC feed said, “I have got was did any part of the ball touch the ground just after it completed the catch. It had carried, six-eight inches above the ground; no doubt about that but did it then actually roll over and touch the top of the surface?”
https://twitter.com/ShubmanGill/status/1667581278365929472
“They (umpires) could have taken more time. They could have zoomed in. It is not normal match, it is a WTC final. Could have checked more,” senior pacer Mohammed Shami said after the end of the day’s play.
Asked about the catch after the day’s play, Green said, “Yeah, I think at the time, I definitely thought I caught it. I think in the heat of the moment, I thought it was clean and threw it up and obviously showed no signs of any doubt basically.
“And then, it is left up to the third umpire and he agreed, so yeah.” Former Australian coach Justin Langer, however, termed Green as an “honest bloke” who would never claim a dropped catch.
The soft signal, which was removed from the playing conditions ahead of the final, could have gone in India’s favour if the on-field umpires had signalled it not-out to the TV umpire. The final call was with TV umpire Richard Kettleborough, who adjudged it as a fair catch.
Chants of “cheat cheat cheat” were heard soon after and were repeated when Green came on to bowl.
Gill was batting well and his partnership with Rohit Sharma had started to look threatening.
Commentating on BBC, Langer felt Green had his giant fingers underneath the ball when he pulled off a one-hander screamer to his left at gully.
“The fingers were underneath the ball otherwise that ball would have snapped back. If you are Indian fan, it will be not out. If you are an Australian, it would be out. If you are an England fan, it will be not out. That is how I see it,” said Langer in a lighter vein.
Whilst the decision stirred up controversy, India survived day-4 to keep all three results possible on the final day. Virat Kohli remained undefeated on 44 as India reached 164 for 3. Kohli and first-innings hero Ajinkya Rahane added 71 runs for the fourth wicket as India need to score 280 runs in 90 overs on the final day.
Earlier in the play Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara played some poor shots to get themselves out. The skipper tried to sweep Nathan Lyon off his very first over and was judged LBW and Pujara played an unnecessary Uppercut to Cummins’s bouncer which was caught by the keeper.
Earlier, Australia declared their second innings at 280 for 8 with Alex Care scoring 66 not out and Ravindra Jadeja taking three wickets.
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