Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reacted after KL Rahul seemed unconvinced with the third umpire’s decision to rule him out on Day 3 in the ongoing fourth Test against England at Kennington Oval in London.
It happened during the 34th over of India’s second innings bowled by James Anderson. The right-armer pitched up on a good length which seamed away to take the outside edge. England players appealed hard, but the on-field umpire didn’t seem satisfied.
Then, Joe Root went upstairs, and the ultra edge caught a spike which led to Rahul’s departure. But the Indian opener showed his disappointment and gestured that the bat had hit the pads. In the replay, it was clear that the bat did hit Rahul’s pad but not when the ultra edge showed the spike on the big screen.
India lose their first wicket after a great partnership as Anderson gets Rahul to nick one to Bairstow.
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Reacting to Rahul’s expressions, Manjrekar, in the post-lunch show, opined that the third umpire made the right call as Rahul probably did not realise the ball was kissing the outside edge of his bat.
“Ultra edge, I think, worked beautifully. It picked up exactly what happened,” said Manjrekar on Sony Sports Network.
Manjrekar reckoned that Rahul perhaps didn’t realise the feather edge as his bat hitting the pad must be in his mind.
“So, the bat hit the back pad while coming down but made no contact with the front pad. You can see (in the replay) the contact of the ball with the outside edge. But you saw another noise when the bat was coming down. I think Rahul is innocent of what’s happened there. He had a strong realisation of the bat hitting the back pad. That may have been in his mind, and sometimes, it isn’t easy to notice a feather-like outside edge. He simply didn’t realise that there was an outside edge too,” added Manjrekar.
