Australia’s white-ball skipper Aaron Finch on Friday (June 19) raised a question over ICC’s decision to hand both India and New Zealand three reviews each per innings in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final even though the match officials are neutral in the summit clash.
Richard Illingworth and Michael Gough of England are the on-field umpires for the inaugural WTC final in Southampton.
Taking to Twitter, Finch wrote: "How come both teams have 3 reviews, when there are neutral umpires in this test match? I thought it was only brought in because of home umpires recently! #justasking".
Last year, ICC had revised a rule in playing conditions, allowing every team one additional review per innings as there were home umpires officiating in the matches. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, travelling was difficult and home umpires were being asked to officiate in international matches.
Coming to the WTC final, India got off to a decent start after being asked to bat first. The duo of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill added 62 runs for the opening wicket.
However, the Kiwi pacers pulled things back, dismissing Rohit (34), Gill (28) and Pujara (8) in quick succession to reduce India to 88/3.
Afterwards, the pair of captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane took matters into their hands and forged an unbroken 46-run stand to take India to 134/3 in 58.4 overs before bad light stopped play.
