Ahmedabad, March 18
After registering an eight-run win in the fourth T20I against England here at the Narendra Modi Stadium, India skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday said that he fails to understand why the on-field umpire has to give a soft signal as “out” when the player is himself unsure regarding whether he has taken catch or not.
A blistering half-century from Suryakumar Yadav, followed by a brilliant performance from the bowlers helped India clinch the series-levelling win.
“There was an instance in the Test series when Jinx (Ajinkya Rahane) caught the ball and wasn’t sure. When there’s a half-and-half effort, the soft signal becomes more important. I don’t know why there can’t an “I don’t know” call for the umpires. You want these things ironed out to keep the game linear. But we want clarity on the field,” Kohli told host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation.
During India’s innings, two umpiring calls were a bit 50-50 and it could have gone either way. Suryakumar was sent back to the pavilion by Sam Curran. The right-handed batsman tried to play a ramp shot but Dawid Malan ended up taking the catch. Replays indicated that the ball might have hit the ground when Malan was taking the catch, however, as the soft signal was out, the third umpire stayed with the on-field call citing “lack of conclusive evidence”.
In the last over of the innings, Washington Sundar then played an uppercut and he was caught by Adil Rashid at the boundary. However, replays indicated that Rashid’s foot touched the boundary rope but third umpire Virender Sharma stayed with the on-field call.
Kohli also did not field for the last few overs of the match. Giving an update, Kohli said: “I ran for the ball and aggravated my upper quad a little bit. It’s nothing serious. I should be fine for the game in a day and a half. Better than sprinting for five or six overs, because we have an important game coming up.”
Talking about the match, Kohli said: “A tough game against a top side, and the dew factor was massive. A few instances in the middle were strange, but 180-plus was what we were looking at, and a special mention to SKY (Suryakumar Yadav). The guys in our squad are confident heading into the IPL. Shardul (Thakur) turned it around but our powerplay kept them in check.”
“It’s not easy to walk in at three and start like that, we were stunned by that start [from SKY], he stamped his authority, big credit to these youngsters, coming in and grabbing the opportunities, you set your standards high, and Hardik (Pandya) bowling his four overs in the way that he did augurs very well,” he added.
Earlier, batting for the first time in international cricket, Suryakumar hit a classy 31-ball 57 to ensure India posted a competitive 185/8. England managed 177/8 in their stipulated quota of 20 overs to lose the match by eight runs.
The series decider will now be played on Saturday at the same venue.
