England captain Joe Root survived a close call in England’s chase of 482-run target set by India on day three of the second Test match in Chennai, with the Indian spinners’ riding high on confidence after their first innings demolition job.
Thanks to R Ashwin’s 106 and Virat Kohli’s 62, India posted 286 runs in the second innings of the Test. It was an amazing knock by the Indian all-rounder, who hit his 5th hundred in the format and first at his home in Chennai and against England. He also added 96 runs with Kohli for the 8th wicket.
However, once India was bowled out, it was upto England batting to chase down an impossible-looking target in two days’ time. Well, by the end of the day’s play, England was 53/3, losing Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, and Jack Leach, with Akshar Patel taking two wickets and Ashwin taking one.
It could very well have been 4 wickets, had the DRS not goofed up and given England captain Joe Root not out after India reviewed a decision. In the 19th over’s 1st ball, Akshar Patel and Rishabh Pant made a big appeal thinking that Joe Root had edged a ball to the keeper.
Ultra Edge suggested that no edge was present and then it checked for LBW and found that the ball was hitting the stumps with Root being hit in front of the stumps. However, the DRS showed the umpire’s call on the original decision for caught behind, which was given not out by umpire Nitin Menon.
This decision stood and gave Root a life. It peeved the Indian fans and Indian captain Virat Kohli had a heated discussion with Nitin Menon.
This frustrated decision was also discussed on social media, with former Australia opener Mark Waugh tweeting, “That’s the plumpest LBW I’ve ever seen given not out by DRS. Problem is the DRS went with the umpires call for not out for a caught behind not LBW.”
Australia still requires 429 runs to win the match with 7 wickets in hand.
