The Adelaide Oval is the scene of the second Test match between Australia and India. The Indian bowlers made a strong recovery by taking three wickets at the beginning of Day 2 of the Pink Ball Test. In order to dig their bases for a long innings, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh were then at the crease. To tackle the pair, Rohit Sharma, the captain of India, brought in Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ashwin had a difficult beginning as Head repeatedly threw him over the rope. However, Marsh was almost caught plumb in front of the wicket by the spinner, which made him think. When the Indian team appealed, the umpire refused to move, so they went upstairs. The DRS replays were unable to determine which bat or pad made contact with the ball first due to the slight discrepancy between them.
The situation brought to mind KL Rahul’s dismissal, which was identical. Despite the fact that the Indian hitter could have been given a benefit of the doubt, the umpire had declared him out. During the Perth Test, former India player Virat Kohli did not think twice about reminding the on-field umpire about Rahul’s judgement when the situation coincided amicably with his teammate’s shameful dismissal.
“In Perth, KL’s was the same, two spikes bat and pad,” Virat informed the umpire.
Here are the videos of Virat Kohli conversation and Marsh’s DRS:
Third umpire couldn’t recognise whether it’s bat or pad first and declared batter as not out
Virat to Umpire : KL’s was the same in Perth, two spikes bat and pad. pic.twitter.com/LMid1Wr1Iy
— HXF (@huzaiff_01) December 7, 2024
3rd umpire says there’s no conclusive evidence to overturn the decision. pic.twitter.com/pY8GjxhthI
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 7, 2024
The umpire’s greatest error occurred when the third umpire failed to consider using the ball-tracking option. Despite not considering other options, he stuck with the on-field decision until two spikes showed. The fact that India was not given the chance to save their lifeline with an umpire’s call in the event that the bat had not touched the ball also cost them a review.