Why did Snicko technology not see what the third umpire did in the Yashasvi Jaiswal dismissal?

What was the incident?

Yashasvi Jaiswal had been resisting the Aussie charge, including the Sam Konstas bee-buzzing, and was 16 runs short of a 4th innings ton, but mostly battling for a draw alongside Washington Sundar at that stage. His innings with 200 left of the target, and 27 overs to survive, ended controversially when he went for a doomed pull, and gloved it to Alex Carey off Pat Cummins. The skipper sought a DRS review for caught behind from upstairs, where a lengthy wait began.

What was the decision?

The third umpire Sharfadoullah packed Jaiswal off, convinced there had been a touch, though no spike appeared on Snicko. Jaiswal wasn’t keen to leave and made his case appealing to on-field umpires Michael Gough and Joel Wilson before eventually sulking off on the long trudge. India would go on to lose by 184 runs. At the heart of the matter was the lack of any audio evidence whatsoever to the edge.

What did captain Rohit Sharma say?

Indian captain Rohit Sharma told the media he believed Jaiswal had probably made contact with the ball, but India had also been unlucky through the series. “I don’t know what to make of that, because the technology didn’t show anything. But with the naked eye, it seemed that he did touch something. So I don’t know how the umpires want to use the technology, but in all fairness, I think he did touch the ball. But again, it’s about the technology, which we all know, is not 100 per cent. We don’t want to really look too much into that. It’s just that we are more often than not the ones falling on the wrong side of it…I feel we’ve been little unfortunate,” he said.

Was Pat Cummins happy with technology?

No. Though Cummins had no doubt Jaiswal had snicked the ball, irrespective of what Joel Wilson saw. “I think it was just clear that he hit it. Heard a noise, saw deviation. So was absolutely certain that he hit it. As soon as we referred it, you can see him drop his head and basically acknowledge that he hit it,” he was quoted as saying by Code Sports. Cummins accepted the tech was tenuous. “UltraEdge (an alternative to Snicko), I don’t think anyone has complete confidence in and (it) didn’t really show much. But fortunately, there’s enough other evidence to show it was clearly out.”

What did the brains behind Snicko say?

Code Sports quoted Warren Brennan, whose company BBG Sports operates Snicko, explaining why there was no spike as the ball appeared to move past Yashasvi Jaiswal’s glove. “That was one of the glance shots where there isn’t any noise so Snicko shows nothing only ambient noise,” Brennan told Code Sport. “I checked with the audio director and he said there was no noise either. Probably only HotSpot could have resolved that one,” he added.

HotSpot, which detects marks left from the ball making contact with bat or gloves, would have more likely helped decide Jaiswal’s dismissal but is not in use this series.

Where has Hot Spot gone away?

Code Sports writer Daniel Cherny responding to a query on Twitter explaining why Hot Spot was shelved by Fox Cricket. “Hot Spot is not in operation this summer after Fox Cricket dumped it, pointing to criticism of the technology. Fox has pointed to concerns over how it operates in Hot weather, (and) cost a factor too.” Cricket Australia had decided to not use Hot Spot too.

Why does Sunil Gavaskar not approve of the decision?

Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was befuddled by why Snicko was deployed if umpires didn’t fully trust it. “If evidence of the technology is not to be taken, why have it at all? That is something that would definitely be the query as far as the Indians are concerned,” Gavaskar told Channel 7.