The call for Decision Review System in domestic cricket will be the talking point of the Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season. Umpiring howlers lead to this topic every year. The second semifinal between Karnataka and Saurashtra at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium saw three critical shouts being denied by the umpire.
On day three, an Abhimanyu Mithun short ball had taken the edge of Cheteshwar Pujara’s bat. But he was adjudged not out by umpire Saiyed Khalid.
On day four, a Vinay Kumar delivery took a faint edge off Pujara’s bat before landing on wicketkeeper Sharath Srinivas’ gloves. The decision: not out; the umpire being Khalid again.
Pujara ended up surviving more than 200 balls to score a hundred and turn the fate of the match towards Saurashtra. His side was reeling at 3/2 in the first session.
His partner, Sheldon Jackson, also had a reprieve in the 14th over. Ronit More had trapped him leg-before. Jackson hadn’t gone behind the line and it was clearly hitting the leg-stump.
Pujara and Jackson built a partnership of 200+ runs to bat through the entire day four.
While walking out to bat this morning, Pujara had to bear with crowd jeers - a reaction to the dismissal that went in his favour on day three. But the angst fizzled out as soon as he hit his first boundary.
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