India vs England: Virat Kohli gets into a verbal duel with umpire Nitin Menon after Joe Root survives a dismissal

Late on day three of the India-England second Test in Chennai, an incident has sparked the debate over the use of ball-tracking in cricket once again. England captain Joe Root survived a lucky one of Axar Patel’s bowling when he should have actually been given out. Indian captain Virat Kohli was seen furious while talking to the umpire on the field.

The incident took place when Patel bowled a gentle delivery to which Root’s lazy feet couldn’t react on time. The pace with which the spinner had delivered the ball took it straight and Root was caught on his crease as the ball crashed his back pad. The Indian fielders went for an appeal, but the umpire, Nitin Menon gave it not out. 

The Indian captain Kohli went for the Decision Review System (DRS) immediately without any hesitation. However, when the replays came in, it showed that the impact of the ball hitting the pads was not enough in line with the stumps. The ball was absolutely crashing the stumps as the impact stayed as umpire’s call, Root survived and wasn’t given out. 

I can understand why the Indian captain is remonstrating: Nick Knight

As soon as the replays came on the big screen, Kohli was seen conversing with the umpire on the field. The disappointment on his face was pretty visible as Root was absolutely plumb in front. Former England cricketer, Nick Knight, who was in the commentary box at the time, said that he was flabbergasted. 

“I can understand why the Indian captain is remonstrating,” Knight said. “It appeared to me that Joe Root began to withdraw his leg or straighten his back leg and by the time it hit him on his pad, you could see the off stump. I’m giving that out all day long. You see the way the knee straightens there, you can see off stump. I’m flabbergasted,” Knight added. 

It was visible from the replays that Root had straightened his legs, which is why the impact should have been on the stumps, however, ball tracking decided that the ball wasn’t into the stumps enough. There were people on Twitter who talked about this incident and here are some of the tweets.