‘Dhoni spirit roaming around’ - Twitterati react after umpire overturns England’s appeal for Ishant Sharma’s hit-wicket

At the fag end of the opening Test between India and England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, a bizarre incident took place. The Three Lions were on the threshold of a stupendous win when Ishant Sharma came out to bat after Virat Kohli and Shahbaz Nadeem were dismissed. In the 57th over of the Indian innings bowled by Jofra Archer, Sharma found himself in a bit of tangle.

He negated the short delivery bowled by Archer with a defensive technique, but the Brits’ cricketers were cock-a-hoop for some reason. The bails behind Sharma were seen on the ground. The visitors’ players felt as if Ishant, himself, dislodged the bails. After England appealed for Sharma’s hit-wicket, the on-field umpire sent the decision upstairs.

After taking a look at the replays quite a few times, third umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin asked on-field umpires Nitin Menon and Anil Kumar to term the delivery a dead-ball. Ishant went on to stay not. In the meantime, Twitterati had their say on the entire incident.

Here’s how the netizens reacted to the Ishant Sharma saga:

After the 227-run loss, Virat Kohli, the Indian skipper, admitted that India need to pull their socks up to make a comeback. “Our body language and intensity was not up to the mark, second innings we were much better. We were better in the second half of the first innings with the bat, not the first four batters,” Kohli was quoted as saying in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We have to understand the things that we have done decently in this game and the things that we haven’t and as a side, we are always looking to improve. England were far more professional and consistent throughout the Test match than we were,” he added.

Joe Root was clear cut in saying that England didn’t want to give India any chance of winning. “The idea was to get to 400. Didn’t quite materialise like that. But having spent some time out there, I knew the wicket had changed drastically and knew it was going to change again.

“Wanted to take India’s win out of the equation. As a bowling group we didn’t want to worry about the run rate,” Root said.