India vs England: Twitter lambasts third umpire for producing DRS result in favour of Joe Root

India and England are up against each other in the ongoing highly-anticipated pink-ball Test i.e third Test of the four-match series at the renovated Motera Cricket Stadium, also known as Narendra Modi Stadium. The pitch at Ahmedabad has emerged as a bowling surface thus far as bowlers especially the spinners from the teams have managed to steal the show.

The toss went in the favour of visiting captain Joe Root and he decided to post a total on the board first. With the ball in the hand, India’s spin attack comprising Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin weaved magic on the ground as they successfully bundled out England for a paltry total of 112 runs in the first innings. Axar emerged as the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts by picking as many as six wickets while Ashwin had three under his belt.

This was followed by India racking up just 145 runs on the board as Jack Leach and skipper Joe Root bamboozled the opposition batsmen by picking four and five wickets respectively. Indian skipper Virat Kohli handed the ball to the in-form spinner Axar Patel in the third innings and he didn’t disappoint as he took the wicket of the opener, Zak Crawley, on the very first ball of the innings.

On the third ball of the same over, Axar sent Bairstow back to the pavilion and England soon found themselves reeling at 44 for 3 with Axar taking all the wickets in just 15 overs.

The third Umpire gives a lifeline to Joe Root

Meanwhile, apart from the performances, one thing that has hogged the limelight in the marquee game between India and England is DRS. Both the teams haven’t shied away from using the technology to reconfirm the decision made by the on-field umpire. However, the third umpire had produced two controversial decisions on Day 1 of the match and followed it with another one on Day 2.

On the fourth delivery off 16th over, Joe Root leant forward to defend the delivery by Axar Patel and in that process, he tucked his bat and pad very close to each other. The on-field umpire adjudged it as Lbw but Root decided to challenge it as he hesitantly opted for DRS.

The replay of the ball showed that the bat was very close to the ball and upon checking it with Ultra edge, the third umpire reversed the decision of the on-field umpire. However, it upset the Indian fans as many argued that if seen properly, pad is touching the ball first. This resulted in people lambasting the third umpire for giving a lifeline to England skipper on Twitter.