'Are you serious?' - Sunil Gavaskar comes down hard on Tom Banton over unnecessary DRS call

Tom Banton surprised everyone watching the game live and also the commentators when he decided to go for a review after being dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. On the final delivery of the 18th over, Kuldeep bowled a googly by taking the pace off the ball as Banton nicked one to the wicketkeeper, KL Rahul. India started celebrating as the umpire raised his finger, but the batter decided to go upstairs. 

When the replay was showed on the screen, a spike was seen as the ball passed the bat and it was enough for the third umpire to adjudge him out. It is a widely known aspect which cricketers have been vocal about, that a batter has absolute sense of ball nicking his bat as the prop his held firm in the hands. Former India cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar was unabashed in his critique after Banton went for a review and lambashed that “this is not a school cricket”. 

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“Are you serious? Taking a review when you nick the ball, I mean, how can a batter not know that he has nicked the ball and particularly the batter not hit the bat or the ground? This is international cricket. This is not school cricket. You might sometimes not know, but this is international cricket. It makes less sense because he went over to the non-striker to consult,” said Gavaskar on air. 

Speaking of Kuldeep, the spinner was out of action as he sustained sports hernia. After recuperating from the injury he was back playing for Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy 2024-25. He has been selected for Champions Trophy 2025 as well. Though he featured in just two games, he picked just two wickets in the series. It is worth noting that, Kuldeep and Varun Chakravarthy are the only premium spinners in the team.