 "Yashasvi Jaiswal was controversially given out during India's chase against Australia in Melbourne. AP")
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed in controversial fashion on Day 5 of the fourth Test between Australia and India in Melbourne on Monday. Jaiswal was batting on 84 during India’s run chase, with the Aussies having set the visitors a target of 340. The southpaw was dismissed by Australia skipper Pat Cummins in the 71st over after being caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. With 359 runs from four Tests, Jaiswal is India’s top run-getter in the series, so his wicket was a huge blow for India. The youngster’s dismissal, however, has triggered a massive controversy.
Why was Jaiswal’s dismissal controversial?
Jaiswal looked to play the hook shot off a short ball from Pat Cummins in the 71st over, but miscued it completely. The ball ended up going close to Jaiswal’s bat and seemingly touched his gloves before Carey completed the catch. The on-field umpire Joel Wilson said that it was not out but Australia decided to go for the review. The replays suggested a deflection as the ball passed the bat, but the Snickometer did not display any spike.
Despite the Snicko not showing any conclusive evidence of the ball hitting either bat or glove, third umpire Sharfudoula Saikat declared that Jaiswal was out due to the deflection, and asked the on-field umpire to change his decision from ‘Not Out’ to ‘Out’.
What happened in this scenario is that there wasn’t any conclusive evidence on Snicko that influenced the final decision. Instead, it was the “visual evidence” of the third umpire, since there was the deflection to back his case. “I’ll tell you what the third umpire has done here. “He has gone by visual evidence here even if he didn’t see enough of a murmur (on Snicko),” commentator Harsha Bhogle said on air.
Jaiswal was seemingly not happy with the decision and had a word with the umpires before making his walk back to the pavilion.
What have the experts said on Jaiswal’s dismissal?
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri too felt that there was a slight deflection. “Tracking showed slight change in angle of ball, Snicko is an assistance but the third umpire is right to overrule if he is convinced. i think there was a slight deflection,” Shastri said on commentary.
Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar said that any other umpire would have trusted the Snicko technology and given the batter not out. “Any other umpire would have gone the other way. They would have said that I love Snicko as a technology and I trust Snicko and would have given it a not out And that also would have been accepted by us as a pretty okay call,” Manjrekar said on commentary.
BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla felt that Jaiswal was not out and urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take a call on the Snicko technology. “According to me, Jaiswal was technically not out,” Shukla told CNN News18. “ICC technology committee should take a call on the technology. Some outs are given by technology and some are given by the technology,” he added. “Benefit of the doubt is largely given to the batsmen,” stated the 65-year-old.
Jaiswal’s dismissal left India in trouble at 140/7. India were eventually bowled out for 155 in the run-chase, with Australia completing a 184-run win. Australia now take a 2-1 lead heading into the fifth and final Test that will be played in Sydney from 3 January.