Hardik Pandya – bowled or not bowled?
The third umpire felt there was no conclusive evidence to rule that the bail had been dislodged by the wicketkeeper’s glove
ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jan-20230:45
‘You have to respect the third umpire’s decision’ – Gill
Hardik Pandya was dismissed in debatable circumstances in the first ODI against New Zealand in Hyderabad, with the third umpire deciding he had been bowled even though it might have been the wicketkeeper’s glove that dislodged the bails.The dismissal occurred in the 40th over of India’s innings, when Hardik tried to dab a delivery from Daryl Mitchell to deep third but checked his shot at the last moment. The off bail was dislodged as the ball passed extremely close to the stumps and the decision was referred by the on-field umpire to the TV umpire K Ananthapadmanabhan.Replays showed that wicketkeeper Tom Latham, who was standing up to the stumps, also had his gloves very close to the bails; the bails seemed to light up a fraction after the ball had passed over the top of the stumps and into Latham’s gloves.
The TV umpire checked whether Latham’s gloves were behind the stumps before he collected the ball – which they were, so it was a legal delivery – and he was satisfied that there was no conclusive evidence that the bail had been dislodged by the wicketkeeper’s gloves.Ravi Shastri, who was on commentary at the time, wasn’t convinced. “Oh, it’s been given out! Daryl Mitchell should be happy,” Shastri said. “Should really be happy, because that, if you take a look again as to where the keeper’s gloves are, where the ball is as it passes the stumps, it looked as if the ball was at least an inch, inch-and-a-half above the stumps … Ball clearly looks to be above the bail. You can see as it goes past into the gloves, there’s no red light, it’s only after that. There you go. From that angle, you can see that the gloves are closer to the bails than the ball.”Watch full replay in the UK and USA
You can watch the replay of the first ODI between India and New Zealand on ESPN Player in the UK and on ESPN+ in the USA. If you’re in the UK, you can also watch the replay on YouTube.
Hardik was dismissed for 28 off 38 balls, ending a partnership of 74 for the fifth wicket with Shubman Gill, who went on to score his maiden double-century in ODIs and lead India to a total of 349 for 8.”As a non-striker, there’s a blind spot; you can’t really tell like what happened,” Gill said at the post-match press conference. “When I was watching the replay, I didn’t think the ball hit the stumps. It’s a bit weird that the ball is hitting the bail and the bail is falling towards the crease instead of the other side but these bails are different. These are heavy bails, and these stumps are different. At the end of the day, you have to go with the third umpire and respect his decision.”