Sunil Gavaskar and Jonathan Trott were not happy that umpire Paul Reiffel’s decision gave a lifeline to Joe Root.
England set India a 193-target to win, but it could have been a little less – four runs to be precise – had Paul Reiffel not erred in his decision on Joe Root. The former England captain, who scored a gritty 40 in the second innings, was batting on 36 when he survived a close LBW call. Root shuffled on the off-side, with a ball from Mohammed Siraj rapping him on the pads. Umpire Reiffel remained unmoved, but Siraj and India captain Shubman Gill believed it was a lot closer. They immediately went upstairs, and that’s when things got exciting.
The ball had pitched in line and impacted, too, and even as its trajectory clipped the top of the leg stump, the umpire’s call prevailed. The decision sent shockwaves among broadcasters and commentators, as the Indian players struggled to come to terms with the fact that it was declared not out. Siraj was livid, as was Gill, Dhruv Jurel, KL Rahul and almost everybody else expressing their displeasure. The decision sent ripples inside the commentary box with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar saying there was no way the ball would not have hit the stumps.
Gavaskar not impressed, neither is Trott
“I cannot believe the ball has moved that much. You’re saying it was going to kiss the leg stump? There’s no way. It was knocking the leg stump off. The only good thing is that India have not lost the review,” Gavaskar said.
The decision did not hurt India big time, though, as India got their man soon after with Washington Sundar dismissing the England legend to pick up the first of his four wickets. India, in fact, sensing that Reiffel may not be of much help to them, took the LBW entirely out of the equation, clean bowling the rest of the English batters to bowl them out for 192.
Jonathan Trott, part of the English broadcasting panel couldn’t believe Reiffel’s decision either. “I am flabbergasted. Having looked at that replay, I thought it was crashing into the inside part of the leg stump. Watching it in real time, I couldn’t believe it was missing. You thought it was crashing into the inside of the stump. When you saw that normal speed, it was hardly missing a leg stump. England survive again. India animated,” he said.
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
