India's cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar couldn't resist a playful jab at critics of the controversial umpire's call rule, especially after England's skipper Ben Stokes recently suggested it should be tossed out. While commentating during the opening day in Ranchi, Gavaskar pointed out the umpire's call's significance when England's Ben Duckett survived an LBW appeal, despite ball-tracking indicating a close shave with the stumps.
Gavaskar quipped that if we were to eliminate the umpire's call, Test matches might wrap up in just two and a half days, hinting at the chaos that would ensue if every decision showing the ball even marginally hitting the stumps was ruled out.
"Have a look at this. This is the umpire's call. All those who are saying the umpire's call should be done away with, on replay (on this instance), the ball was hitting the stumps, which meant, Duckett 'good bye'. In case, the umpire's call is done away with and the ball is hitting the stumps, it will be given out. This is Test cricket, most matches will finish in 2-and-half-days," Gavaskar told Sports 18 during commentary.
What happened during Ben Duckett's umpire's call incident?
The moment of contention came in the 9th over, with umpire Kumar Dharmasena ruling Duckett not out against Ravindra Jadeja's LBW plea. Replay and ball-tracking suggested a borderline case - the ball hitting Duckett just outside the off-stump line, yet part of it was in line, and the trajectory indicated it clipping the bails.
Despite the technology's hint at a possible out, Dharmasena's on-field call stood, sparing Duckett. This incident underscored Gavaskar's point and came in the wake of Stokes's frustration over Zak Crawley's LBW dismissal in Rajkot's third Test, where he advocated for scrapping the umpire's call.
What did Ben Stokes say on umpire's call?
Stokes made a resounding statement on the umpire's call after the Three Lions lost the 3rd Test match in Rajkot.
"Yeah, just about Zak's DRS. He was just giving us some information around how it was judged to be given out when the balls did not hit the stumps on the DRS. The ball did not hit the stumps on replay. It was apparently that numbers said that it hit the stump, but the image was wrong. So I don't really understand what's going on there," Stokes had said.
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