India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal leaves the field after being dismissed on day five of the fourth cricket Test match between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne on December 30, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s contentious dismissal on Monday (December 30, 2024) might have sparked an uproar, but Indian skipper Rohit Sharma attempted to douse the fire stating that the left-hander “did touch the ball” while slipping in a terse reminder that his team often falls on the wrong side of such close calls involving technology.
The fourth Test’s final hour was a distillation of the very best of cricket’s longest format. In that session of joy and trauma, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal triggered a debate.
Jaiswal was batting on 84 (208b, 310m, 8×4) when he attempted to pull a bouncer from Aussie skipper Pat Cummin. The ensuing visuals were of the Indian opener’s swivelling bat and the Australians going up in appeal for a caught behind. Staring at a negative verdict, they sought a review and third umpire Saikat went by the visual evidence of a deflection and adjudged the batter out while the snickometer remained silent.
The left-hander argued with the on-field umpires over the decision before walking back.
A majority of the audience, clad in the blue shade, were aghast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and cries of ‘cheating, cheating’ rang out aloud. Once the game ended with Cummins and his men finishing on the winning side, both the Australian skipper and his rival counterpart Rohit Sharma put a lid on the simmering controversy.
Speaking to the media, Rohit said: “Look, really I don’t know what to make of that because the technology didn’t show anything. But with the naked eye, it seemed that he did touch something. I don’t know how the umpires want to use the technology. But in all fairness, I think it (bat) did touch the ball but again look, it’s about the technology which we all know is not 100 per cent. We don’t want to really look too much into that. Just that more often than not, we are the ones falling on the wrong side.”
Later, Cummins explained: “Oh look I think it was just clear that he hit it, heard a noise, saw a deviation, so it was absolutely certain that he hit it. As soon as we referred it you could see him drop his head and basically acknowledge that he hit it. On the screen you can see he hit it. Ultra-edge, I don’t think anyone has complete confidence in, and didn’t really show much but fortunately there’s enough other evidence to show it was clearly out.”
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice-President Rajeev Shukla feels Yashasvi Jaiswal was “clearly” not out on Day 5 of the fourth Test of the BGT series against Australia in Melbourne on Monday (December 30, 2024).
The decision by the third umpire Sharfuddoula on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s dismissal on the final day of the fourth Test of the BGT series has left the world of cricket divided.
In the replay, the ball seemingly deflected on its way to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, but the snickometer didn’t show any movement when the ball visibly appeared to be deflected off Jaiswal’s gloves. The third umpire felt the visual evidence was enough to deem Jaiswal out and asked the on-field umpire to overturn the decision. BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla took to X and stated that the young southpaw was clearly not out. According to him, the third umpire should have had solid reasons to overturn the decision. “Yashaswi jayaswal was clearly not out. Third umpire should have taken note of what technology was suggesting. While over ruling field umpire third umpire should have solid reasons,” Mr. Shukla wrote on X.
‘Clearly out’: Ponting, Taufel
For former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, the decision was clearly out, and there should be no argument about Jaiswal’s dismissal. “They can make of it what they like. That clearly hit the glove.” “As far as I’m concerned, there’s no argument whatsoever.” – Ricky Ponting said during commentary.
Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan gave his take on the entire incident and said, “There was a deflection but nothing on snicko…”For former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin, it was an “Interesting and huge moment.”
“In my view the decision was out. The third umpire did make the correct decision in the end,” Former ICC Elite Panel umpire Simon Taufel told Channel 7.
“With the technology protocols, we do have a hierarchy of redundancy and when the umpire sees a clear deflection off the bat there is no need to go any further and use any other form of technology to prove the case.
“The clear deflection is conclusive evidence. In this particular case what we have seen from the third umpire, is they’ve used a secondary form of technology, which for whatever reason hasn’t shown the same conclusive evidence of audio to back up the clear deflection.
“In the end the third umpire did the right thing and went back to the clear deflection and overturned the umpire field. So, in my view correct decision made,” Taufel added.
Jaiswal’s dissmisal lef India without much hope as the Australians managed to bowl India out and win the 4th Test at the MCG by 185 runs and take a 2-1 lead in the five match series.
The last test will now be played at Sydney.
(With inputs from agencies)
Published – December 30, 2024 12:29 pm IST
