Ahmedabad, (Samajweekly) India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday expressed disappointment over the third umpire’s call that led to the dismissal of a well-set Suryakumar Yadav in the fourth T20I against England, saying that the soft signal should be done away with.
Kohli felt that India were shortchanged when Yadav was given out despite replays being inconclusive. Yadav, who was batting on 57 off 30 balls, had played a ramp shot to fine-leg which was caught by Dawid Malan. There was a frame that showed that the ball had made contact with the ground while the side angle was inconclusive. However, he was given out as the onfield umpire’s soft signal was out.
“There was an instance during the Test series when I was next to Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) and he clearly caught the ball but he wasn’t sure, so we went upstairs. If it is a half and half effort and the fielder is in doubt, there is no way the umpire from square leg can see it clearly. The soft signal becomes important and it becomes tricky,” said Kohli when asked about the incident, as called for something radical to replace the soft signal.
“I don’t know why there can’t be an ‘I don’t know’ call with the umpires as well. It is similar to umpire’s call as well. These are decisions that can change the course of the game, especially in these big games. We were at the receiving end today, and tomorrow it could be some other team. You want these issues ironed out to keep the game really simple. It isn’t ideal in high pressure games,” he added.
There was also another close call when Washington Sundar was caught at the third man fence by Adil Rashid. The dismissal also saw umpires viewing multiple replays to see if the fielder had touched the boundary line before giving Sundar out.
Meanwhile, Kohli felt that this was the best wicket India had played on during the ongoing T20I series. India managed to post 185/8, their highest total in the series.
“The wicket was better than any other game and the dew factor was massive, bigger than any other game as well. The wicket allowed us to get to that total. There were a few instances in the middle which were strange, but having said that, 180+ was what we were looking at. Special mention to Surya, who batted outstandingly in his first outing as a batsman. Similar to Ishan (Kishan). They are quite fearless having played in the IPL,” Kohli said.
“We don’t have any T20Is after this series, so I want the guys to be confident and come out of it very strongly. We were also quite clinical with the ball,” the skipper added.
