Star India batter Virat Kohli's dismissal always becomes the talk of the town because of his stature in world cricket.
On Day 2 of India versus Australia second Test in Delhi, Kohli’s wicket once again hogged the headlines as it was a highly controversial one.
Kohli was looking in great touch and was standing between Australia and a big first-innings lead. When the former India skipper was six runs short of his half-century, Australia’s debutant spinner Matthew Kuhnemann trapped him in front of the stumps.
The on-field umpire gave the decision as out and the Virat opted for the review. After reviewing the replays, TV umpire also agreed with on-field umpire’s call as the ball appeared to hit the front pad and the ball almost simultaneously. As a result, the well-set Kohli had to take a long walk back to the pavilion.
Sharing his two cents on the dismissal, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh said it was not out. Citing the rule book, he further said if the ball hits the bat and pad simultaneously then the decision should go in favour of the batter.
"If we talk about his dismissal today, I feel it was not out. It is because if you look at it by the rules, if the ball hits the bat and pad together, then it is not out. The decision should go in favour of the batter. But that didn't happen,” said Harbhajan while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“Despite having all this technology, such a mistake is beyond me. I understand if you don't have the technology, or you had an error. Mistakes happen and an on-field umpire can make the wrong call. But if you're seeing it on the TV, and the third umpire is giving it out, then that for me is surprising. For me and according to the rule book, Virat Kohli was absolutely not out. And he was playing very well. If he had continued playing, we could have certainly got the lead over Australia. Not sure how big the lead would have been but the way he was batting, he was set and getting him out was going to be a bit difficult. And I feel India would have atleast made 300," he added.
Coming to the match, Delhi Test has turned out to be a thrilling one with both sides matching each other blow for blow.
Opting to bat first, Australia posted 263/10 in their first innings on the back of half-centuries from Usman Khawaja (81) and Peter Handscomb (72*).
In reply, the hosts were reeling at 139/7 before Akshar Patel (74) and R Ashwin (37) forged a 114-run partnership to take the team’s total to 262.
In their second innings, the visitors batted aggressively to finish the second day on 61/1, stretching their overall lead to 62 runs. Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne were unbeaten in the middle on 39 and 16, respectively.
