Pant was flummoxed as he stood next to the umpires protesting the call but there was nothing to be done. (X/Sportzpics)
Rishabh Pant was playing, it seemed, on a different planet to the rest of the Indian batters at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, but his sensational innings came to an end in controversial fashion. There were three moments on the day when Pant was locked in a battle with technology. Finally, technology got the better of him. Was it out or not out? This seemed to be in a grey area.
In the 22nd over, Ajaz Patel got one to turn back into Pant. The wicketkeeper batter, as he had shown all morning, didn’t hesitate to come down the track to cover the angle and cut down the degree of movement off the pitch. But with the ball still out of his reach he tried to play a forward defensive stroke. But the bat jammed with his pad and the ball looped up to Tom Blundell. New Zealand were convinced there was an inside edge but Pant coolly walked away to the side, with a smile on his face.
Now Tom Latham had a decision to make. New Zealand had just one review left, but this was Pant, batting superbly on 64. So they went for it. The UltraEdge first showed clear spikes and New Zealand players started celebrating. But Pant was convinced that the spike was from the bat hitting the front pad and not the bat. TV Umpire Paul Reiffel delebrated the decision both ways, but in the end, he seemed to be convinced that there was a small deflection from the shoulder of the bat onto the pad.
Pant was flummoxed as he stood next to umpire Richard Illingworth protesting the call but there was nothing to be done. “I know they don’t use the Hotspot anymore, that would have been even more conclusive,” weighed in Sunil Gavaskar on air.
“Controversy! Little grey area once again,” AB de Villiers wrote on X. “Did Pant get bat on that or not? Problem is when the ball passes the bat at exactly the same time a batter hits his pad snicko will pick up the noise. But how sure are we he hit it? I’ve always worried about this and here it happens at a huge moment in a big Test match. Where’s hotspot?!”
“Fact is there must’ve been doubt. Surely you stay with on-field call then? Unless the 3rd Ump clearly saw a deviation? I’m not so sure. And don’t get me wrong, I have no bias here, just pushing for consistent calls and good use of tech,” de Villiers added.
Earlier in the day, Pant was lucky with technology. In the 12th over, he missed a short ball from Ajaz and would have been out but it was not reviewed. The bowler went for a half appeal. But Latham appeared to indicate there might have been an inside edge. But UltraEdge showed no spikes and ball-tracking showed three REDS, meaning the decision would have been overturned. And just earlier in the 22nd over too, before he was given out, NZ burnt a review again on Pant.
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