India and England played out a tense day of cricket on Sunday — the 4th day of the 3rd Test at Lord’s. From fiery comments to blistering deliveries and on-field banter, the day’s play had it all. While England were bowled out by the visitors for just 192 in their second innings, one umpiring decision left the Indian team bewildered.Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj were visibly enraged as umpire Paul Reiffel made the surprising decision to give Joe Root a lifeline at the crease. Standing on 36, the batter was caught off guard by a delivery from Siraj that zipped onto his pad from the off side. The bowler and his skipper were convinced they had claimed his wicket, but were left stunned when the umpire remained unconvinced. Opting for the review, it was soon revealed that the ball had pitched in line and struck in line, with its trajectory clipping the top of the leg stump. However, it was deemed ‘umpire’s call’, and the on-field decision of not out stood.Mirroring the reactions of the Indian players on the pitch, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was in disbelief. Speaking on air, the 76-year-old said:“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.”
Adding to the same, former England batter Jonathan Trott said: “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 at normal speed, it was hardly missing leg stump. England survive again. India animated.”While Root didn’t survive for long after the heavily debated call, he did add four more runs to his tally. He was eventually dismissed for 40 by Washington Sundar, who bowled him clean in the 43rd over.Root narrowly escaping from Siraj’s clutches was heavily protested by Ravichandran Ashwin as well, who claimed that he found it “difficult” to deal with Paul Reiffel during his playing days.
