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On Monday, December 30, the Indian cricket team suffered a tough defeat by 184 runs in the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test in Melbourne, to go 1-2 down in the five-match series. In the final session of play on day five, left-handed batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was fighting hard for India to save the game, was dismissed in dramatic circumstances, which not only sparked a controversy online, but also divided the Indian and Australian commentators.
Notably, on the fifth ball of the 71st over in the Indian second innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal went for the pull stroke on a shorter length delivery from Pat Cummins, but he wasn’t able to make contact before Alex Carey caught hold of it. After the on-field umpire Joel Wilson gave the batter not out following a vociferous appeal from the Australians, Pat Cummins took the DRS, believing that Yashasvi Jaiswal had nicked the ball on the way through.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's 84 wasn't enough for India to draw MCG Test
The snicko didn’t show any murmur as the ball passed the bat and gloves of Yashasvi Jaiswal, but at the same time, there seemed a deflection, which prompted TV umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid Saikat to change the on-field decision. A disappointed Indian opener spoke briefly to the on-field umpires before he walked to the pavilion in disbelief, scoring 84 runs off 208 balls with eight fours in his innings.
Reaction of various Indian and Australian commentators on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal is below:
Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar called it a wrong decision, lamenting that the optical illusion persuaded the TV umpire to give it out. He was quoted as saying, as per Indian Express, “If you are using technology, then use technology only. Whatever I am seeing, I always say that this is an optical illusion. This is an optical illusion." "There is snicko, what does snicko say? Snicko is a straight line. So it is absolutely not out. According to me, this is not out. If anything could be seen from snicko, then it was different. This is a wrong decision. Absolutely wrong decision. Otherwise, don’t use technology. If you are going to go with optical illusion, then don’t use technology at all. It’s simple. It’s very simple,” he added.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting stated the right decision was ultimately made, while saying, “They make of it what they like. It clearly hit the glove. And I caught it at the time, Jaiswal actually started to walk. As soon as the Aussies went upstairs he started to take a couple of steps away. Snicko hasn’t proven it to be correct, but the umpire picked up the deflection and froze it where the ball was on the end of the glove.As far as I’m concerned, there is no argument whatsoever.”
Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri remarked, “I guess to overrule decision, third umpire should be convinced that it’s a conclusive evidence that bat has touched the ball and the trajectory of ball has passed. There are very few such decisions. The decision against KL Rahul too was a wrong one at Perth.”
