The umpire’s decision regarding Shubman Gill’s dismissal in the second innings of the World Test Championship (WTC) Final sparked controversy and divided viewers’ opinions regarding the call.
Gill had formed an unbeaten partnership of 41 runs with Rohit Sharma for the first wicket as India embarked on their challenging chase of 444 runs. Facing Scott Boland, who replaced Mitchell Starc with the new ball, Gill edged the first delivery of his fourth over.
Initially, it appeared that the red leather was falling short of Cameron Green, who was positioned to the left of the ball’s trajectory. Green managed to grab a one-handed stunner while falling on the ground and celebrated the catch with his teammates.
In the WTC Final, soft signals were eliminated for on-field decisions, which meant that the on-field umpire did not have to make a judgment before referring the decision to the TV umpire for review.
Upon reviewing the replays, it seemed that the ball may have touched the ground immediately after Green had grasped it with his fingers while falling onto his left side. Although the replay showed that his fingers were underneath the ball, there was a moment when it appeared that the ball had also made contact with the turf simultaneously.
Despite this uncertainty, the TV umpire Richard Kettleborough deemed that there was enough evidence to uphold the decision, and Gill had to depart after scoring 18 runs.
Unsurprisingly, the close call generated significant discussion and conversation online among cricket enthusiasts and fans.
Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor too didn’t shy away from commenting on the controversial decision.
Shraddha took to Instagram to post a story, taking a dig at the third umpire.
“Me offering badam (almonds) to Third Umpire,” she captioned her photo with a laughing emoji.
