Ashish Ranjan
The penultimate day of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval, which currently favors Australia, was marred by a significant controversy involving India opener Shubman Gill. Gill was declared out following a prolonged review by the third umpire, Richard Kettleborough, following his capture by Cameron Green in the gully.
A large number of fans and a few former cricketers felt that the Indian’s punishment was unjust and came out in support of Gill, who was equally stunned by the verdict. While Gill and captain Rohit Sharma, who was also batting at the time, did not hesitate to express their frustration, Gill has now gone a step further.
Immediately following the conclusion of play on Day 4, which saw India reach 164/3 in a massive 444-run chase, Gill took to Instagram and Twitter to express his personal opinion on the matter. Gill took a jab at the official and shared a screenshot of Green diving to his left to make a low diving capture.
According to the screenshots shared by Gill, it appears that the Australian grounded the ball before completing the catch, bringing an end to his innings at 18 off 19 deliveries.
The incident occurred at the stroke of tea as Gill attempted to push a delivery by Scott Boland slightly past the off-stump line. However, the ball took an outside edge and traveled between the slip cordon and the gully before Green dived to his left to complete a world-class catch.
After a brief discussion between the umpire and the TV official, the umpire referred the decision to the TV official, who ruled Gill out for lack of supporting evidence.
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India’s first wicket fell at the controversial score of 41, after which Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara added more than 50 runs for the second wicket. Rohit was stranded leg-before wicket for 43 while attempting a sweep against Nathan Lyon, and Pujara was caught-behind for 27 while attempting an uppercut against Pat Cummins.
However, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have kept India in the chase by adding 71 runs for the fourth wicket to India’s 164/3 total at the end of the day; they now require an additional 280 runs to win the match.
