Day 4 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground witnessed a dramatic start before Australia wrapped up India’s first innings in the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series for 369 runs, thus sneaking a 105-run lead. Australia took just 21 balls to pick the final wicket, with Nathan Lyon dismissing centurion Nitish Kumar Reddy. But moments before the final dismissal, Australian players were vexed after a bizarre call from the third umpire.
It happened on the final ball of the 119th over when Australia captain Pat Cummins delivered a yorker-length delivery, and angled it across to Mohammed Siraj. It was the sound of an outside edge as Steve Smith made no mistake at second slip, thus sparking a celebration among Australian players.
However, the on-field umpires seemed unsure and referred to it upstairs. The third umpire was quick to come up with a conclusion, reckoning that the ball bounced after taking the bottom edge of the bat.
Cummins was unhappy with the decision as he walked up to the on-field officials and asked for a review, but the umpires said it was not possible.
The sight of an annoyed Cummins and third umpire’s bizarre act of rushing into the decision left commentators Ravi Shastri and Adam Gilchrist confused.
“This is very interesting. I have never seen this before. He is saying, ‘You, as umpires, took it upstairs on your own behalf, but I want to review the decision.’ I do think it needs to be looked at very closely,” said the Aussie legend.
“You heard what the third umpire said. But I felt it was a very, very quick call,” added the former India head coach.
Both Shastri and Gilchrist were convinced that Siraj was out with the “ball taking the edge on the way out.”
India bowled out for 369
India were bundled out for 369 in their first innings with Nitish scoring 114 as Australia took a 105-run lead in the fourth Test. Reddy laced 11 fours and one six in his 189-ball knock and was the last wicket to fall, caught by Mitchell Starc off Nathan Lyon in only the fourth over of the day.
For Australia, Pat Cummins (3/89), Scott Boland (3/57) and Nathan Lyon (3/96) were the pick of the bowlers.
