Shortly after openers KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to the pavilion, Virat Kohli survived a golden duck from Scott Boland, perhaps reducing the intensity of India's tense morning in Sydney. At first glance what appeared to be a catch was reviewed by umpires. However, replays convinced the third umpire to rule it in favour of the Indian star as the ball was visibly touching the ground as Smith held on to the white cherry with just his fingers.
Kohli survives big scare
When Kohli edged his opening delivery off a back-of-a-length channel to Steve Smith in the slips, Boland nearly had two in two. Smith seemed to come close to making the catch, but he lost his balance and passed it to the fielder nearby, who grabbed the rebound. However, the TV replays revealed that Smith might have grassed the opportunity by placing his fingertips just underneath the ball. Before it reached the fielder nearby, the ball seemed to be bouncing off the turf after striking Smith's fingers. Third umpire Joel Wilson declared that he could "clearly see the ball roll off the grass" after several replays, ruling in favour of India and Kohli.
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Australian cricketers vouch against the decision
“From what I have seen there, that makes it more obvious to me that should have been out. Steve Smith had his fingers (underneath the ball), and you could see he was flicking the ball up, it was brilliant what he did. He had his fingers under the ball, he flicked it up deliberately and in my opinion that’s out,” Langer said while speaking against the decision.
Other Australian legends also agreed that Kohli should have been given out.
"I think that’s out… I think he’s made the second movement to get his fingers underneath it," Mark Waugh said on Fox Cricket.
"He’s got away with one there Kohli. To me that’s just out," Allan Border added.
On the other hand, Irafan Pathan called it not out and backed the decision made by the third umpire. "Virat Kohli was not out which was rightly called NOT OUT. will explain during the break," the former cricketer tweeted.
IND vs AUS Playing XIs
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah(c), Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Sira