Former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman and commentator Deep Dasgupta was taken aback by the way England captain Joe Root was speaking to the umpires and questioning a couple of umpiring decisions on Day 1 of the ongoing day-night Test against India in Ahmedabad on Wednesday (February 24).
He was also surprised to see Root’s “animated body language” after Indian opener Shubman Gill was given not out and the way he was involved in a heated conversation with the on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary during the ongoing third Test at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Root was particularly was not happy with the third-umpire's decision to give Gill not out after the youngster was caught by Ben Stokes off Stuart Broad's bowling in the 2nd session on Wednesday.
It was all happened on Day 1 in the second over of India’s first innings when Gill was on strike, facing Broad under lights in Ahmedabad. Broad's delivery caught Gill's edge and flew low towards Stokes, who was standing at second slip, and claimed an apparent dropped catch.
England players started to celebrate, as the on-field umpire gave out, but the TV umpire was quick to spot that the ball had touched the ground before Stokes completed the catch, though the tourists claimed it was clean, prompting the on-field umpire to refer the decision to the third umpire.
The replay showed that the ball had touched the ground as Stokes was attempting to catch the ball and Gill got a lifeline, which left England players furious with some senior players of the touring side including Root involved in a lengthy yet heated conversation with the umpires.
Reacting to the drama, Dasgupta said on Sports Today: “It's difficult to say what's going on because generally they are not like this (complaining against umpiring decisions).”
He continued, “They do realize that they came very close to winning this series, even qualifying for the WTC final before this Test match even before the start of this Test. But not looking at the pitch, just the notion of a Pink-ball Test, you would say England are marginally ahead. But then they were out for 112 this was a different kind of a surface, not usually what we see for a day-night Test.”
Dasgupta signed off by saying, “There is no justification because I thought that was very unlike Joe Root, going and questioning the umpires. And not just questioning, I thought the body language was quite animated we haven't seen Joe Root like that, I haven't seen him like that. I was taken a little aback by the way Joe Root was speaking to the umpires.”
(With India Today Inputs)
