Indian skipper Virat Kohli expressed his displeasure at the umpire’s soft signal rule and questioned why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know call’ from umpires. Virat, however, was impressed with the knock played by Suryakumar Yadav, who was batting for the first time in internationals and made a fifty.
The fourth T20I game between India and England had its fair share of umpiring controversies. In the 14th over of India’s innings, half-centurion Suryakumar Yadav tried to scoop Sam Curran and was caught in the deep by Dawid Malan. It was a low catch and needed the intervention of the on-field umpire who referred the catch to the third umpire but gave a soft signal of out.
When the third umpire started watching the replays, it became confusing and he kept on watching the replays over and again as it seemed the ball had touched the ground when Malan had caught the ball. But, since there was no conclusive evidence to turn the catch, the on-field umpire’s soft signal stayed and SKY was given out. Speaking on the whole controversy, the winning skipper Virat Kohli questioned why there isn’t an ‘I don’t know call’ for umpires.
“There was an instance in the Test series when Jinks caught the ball and wasn’t sure. When there’s a half-and-half effort the soft signal becomes more important. I don’t know why there can’t an “I don’t know” call for the umpires. You want these things ironed out to keep the game linear. But we want clarity on the field,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
It was difficult to defend 186 runs given India were playing with just five bowlers in the game and the dew factor had become more pronounced when India were bowling. Still, the Men in Blue made a strong comeback and went on to win the game. Kohli termed it a ‘tough’ game and credited Shardul Thakur and Suryakumar Yadav for their displays.
“A tough game against a top side, and the dew factor was massive. A few instances in the middle were strange, but 180-plus was what we were looking at, and a special mention to SKY. Guys in our squad are confident heading into the IPL. Shardul turned it around but our Powerplay kept them in check.”
He added that India were stunned to see SKY make a jaw-dropping start. Suryakumar had started off his innings with a six off Jofra Archer’s bowling on his first ball and went on to make a fifty.
“It’s not easy to walk in at three and start like that, we were stunned by that start [from SKY], he stamped his authority, big credit to these youngsters, coming in and grabbing the opportunities, you set your standards high, and Hardik bowling his four overs in the way that he did augurs very well.”
The Indian skipper wasn’t present in the field in the closing phases of the game with his deputy Rohit Sharma taking over the mantle. He revealed that there is nothing serious and he just had aggravated his upper quad a little.
“I ran for the ball, and aggravated my upper quad a little bit, Nothing serious, I should be fine for the game in a day and a half. Better than sprinting for five or six overs, because we have an important game coming up.”
