England left frustrated after umpire error costs them wicket despite DRS review
England were left frustrated after an umpiring error denied them a wicket on the first day of the second Test in Chennai.
Although replays suggested that Ajinkya Rahane should have given out after a delivery from Jack Leach brushed his glove on the way to the short-leg fielder, the TV umpire, Anil Chaudhary, failed to check the correct passage of play and declined England's review.
The incident occurred in the 75th over of the day as Rahane prodded forward to a good-length ball from Leach. While England's appeal was turned down by the on-field umpire, Virender Sharma, they were quick to call a review.
Chaudhary, however, appeared to check only the moment the ball passed the bat. Having decided, quite correctly, that there was no contact at that moment, he returned his 'not out' decision without appearing to realise that the ball had, after that moment, ballooned off the pad and taken the glove, close to the tip of his bat, before Ollie Pope caught it.
England, watching the review of the incident play out on the big screen, appeared to clarify to Sharma that they were appealing for a catch off the glove, not the bat. Chaudhary responded by checking for a leg before wicket dismissal, concluding this would also be denied as the ball had pitched outside leg stump. As a result, England were informed that they had lost one of their reviews.
It is unclear if Sharma informed Chaudhary of England's clarifications or if Chaudhary was provided the footage he requested from the broadcasters.
A few moments later, however, the review was reinstated. By that time the match referee, Javagal Srinath, had been shown replays of the full incident and been able to use Snicko to see there had been contact between ball and glove.
On what grounds that review was reinstated remains, at the time of writing, unclear. The ICC's protocols on the matter state that "an unsuccessful review may be re-instated by the Match Referee at his sole discretion (if appropriate after consultation with the ICC Technical Official and/or the television broadcast director), if the review could not properly be concluded due to a failure of the technology."
That would suggest that Srinath felt the error was due to a technological failure rather than human error.
The technology did appear lacking earlier, however, when Rohit Sharma survived an appeal for a stumping. The available footage rendered it hard to tell if Sharma's back leg was behind the line but, with the situation crying out for a reverse angle camera, it transpired that the broadcasters, Star, were unable to provide such coverage.
Neither the Rahane or Sharma incidents cost England too dearly. Rahane made only one more run before he was bowled, attempting to sweep, while Sharma added just two before top-edging a sweep to deep mid-wicket.
Earlier in the day, the on-field umpires called for a review after Virat Kohli was clean bowled by Moeen Ali.
Chaudhary is a member of the ICC's elite panel of umpires and enjoyed a very good first Test of the series as one of the on-field officials.
With the Covid-19 pandemic rendering travel more demanding than usual, the ICC decided several months ago to utilise home umpires in international cricket. They gave each side an extra review to account for the possibility of unconscious bias.
Cricday has approached the ICC for comment on the incident.