Virat Kohli was dismissed for a duck on his return to Indian Test team.
Kohli had won the toss and chosen to bat first as India was forced to make three changes. Kohli replaced Rahane, Jayant Yadav replaced Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj came in for Ishant Sharma as all three cricketers were dealing with their respective injuries.
India started off well, with Shubman Gill (44) and Mayank Agarwal adding 80 runs for the first wicket. But then Ajaz Patel got rid of Gill and then in his next over, removed Cheteshwar Pujara and then Virat Kohli in a span of 4 balls to leave India 80/3.
However, it was Kohli's LBW dismissal that raised a few eyebrows. The umpire raised his finger after a strong appeal by the Kiwis. The Indian skipper was quick to challenge the decision.
IND v NZ 2021: WATCH - Virat Kohli gets out to a controversial LBW decision
Though the replays from various angles showed that there was a big inside edge almost at the same time as the ball made contact with the pad, the third umpire watching on the TV did not find any decisive evidence to upturn the decision. Hence, as per the DRS process, the on-field umpire had to stay with his original decision.
This decision led to a lot of uproar on social media, but former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull, who is part of the commentary panel in the ongoing series, explained the rationale behind the TV umpire’s verdict.
"The TV umpire has to find conclusive evidence to overturn the decision of the on-field umpire. There was no conclusive evidence that the ball hit the pad first. So, I think the process was followed. The process was right," Doull said while commentating the game on Star Sports.
Mayank Agarwal has held one end together with a brilliant half-century at the time of writing this piece.