Australian cricket stars and fans were left furious over an umpire’s decision that prevented the team from taking a crucial wicket on the thrilling final day of the Boxing Day Test against India.
Mitchell Starc and his teammates were convinced he had caught Yashasvi Jaiswal LBW, so captain Pat Cummins decided to check him out; the graph checking the trajectory of the ball showed that it was on its way to hit the stumps of the Indian star.
However, when the call was returned to the umpire, he decided there was not enough ball hitting the woodwork to justify Jaiswal’s dismissal, leaving Cummins and his men up in arms, and Australian cricket fans lashing out online.
The highly controversial decision came after Cummins struck twice in one over to give Australia the chance to claim a famous Boxing Day Test victory.
Chasing an MCG record 340, India crawled into lunch on the fifth day at 3-33, effectively ruling them out of winning the fourth Test, but with a strong chance of salvaging a draw.
Jaiswal rubbed salt in Australia’s wounds by scoring a superb half-century as fans lashed out online.
Mitchell Starc couldn’t believe it when he thought he had Yashasvi Jaiswal out for LBW, only to be denied even though the DRS appeared to show the Indian star was out.
Pictured: Starc (left) and his teammates are surprised when Jaiswal is allowed to remain in the box during the tense chase in India.
Australian cricket fans lashed out after the DRS graph (pictured) appeared to show that the ball that hit Jaiswal on the pads would have hit the stumps.
The rules state that at least half of the ball must appear to be hitting the stumps on digital review for a dismissal to occur, and while that appeared to be the case in the graphic shown on the broadcast, bails do not count as part of the gate.
‘Absolutely atrocious. Farce and all other superlatives. “That’s a flawed system,” one wrote.
‘The referees’ call was introduced to protect the integrity of the referee’s decision. That became clear and the decision should have been reversed. Otherwise, the rules and interpretations will have to be corrected,” added another.
“The system is designed to protect bad decisions from referees,” wrote another commenter.
Other fans expressed a conspiracy theory and wrote that the decision was made to avoid falling into offside with the powerful Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI), with one writing ‘This call brought to you by @BCCI’ and others They echoed that comment.
Commentators on Channel Seven and Fox Sports were shocked by the decision, with Australian great Adam Gilchrist saying: “That’s the ultimate provocation.” You hear the noise, the crunching of the stumps, and still it doesn’t come out.’
Even Indian legend Ravi Shastri said: “You can tell you’re not happy, Mitchell Starc, and you have good reason to be.”
With the five-Test series locked at 1-1, India need only draw the series to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for a record fifth consecutive time.
India openers Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma carefully got through the first 16 overs until Cummins produced a magic six balls.
The captain removed his opposite captain Rohit with a ball that Mitch Marsh juggled and caught.
Five balls later, in-form No.3 KL Rahul fell victim to Cummins for a duck, boosting Australia’s hopes of going 2-1 up in the series.
Already in a commanding position, Mitchell Starc removed veteran superstar Virat Kohli (five), who was once again trapped behind the wicket.
Tweets like this appeared all over the X social media platform after the highly controversial decision prevented the hosts from taking crucial ground.
Some fans aired a conspiracy theory that the wicket was not given to avoid offending the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Jaiswal is pictured waving to the crowd after rubbing salt in Australia’s wounds by registering a timely half-century on Monday.
Starc, Cummins and Scott Boland regularly bowled deliveries past the outside edge on a pitch that is playing more tricks than expected.
Australia added just six more runs on Monday after being bowled out for 234 in the second over of the fifth day, giving them a lead of 339.
Nathan Lyon (41) and Scott Boland (15 not out), Australia’s numbers 10 and 11, made 61 in a crucial last-wicket position that shot the lead beyond the 300-mark and frustrated India.
A crowd of more than 50,000 is inside the MCG for what could be a defining day for this generation of Australian players.
A total of 350,700 fans have already attended this Boxing Day Test, breaking the MCG’s all-time attendance record of 350,534 in the 1936-37 Ashes series, when Sir Don Bradman was king.
The most successful Test chase on the field was almost a century ago, when England made 7-332 to beat Australia in 1928.
If India wins, it will be their third most successful Test chase.
They would even surpass the 7-329 they recorded to win the fourth Test at the Gabba in 2021 and claim the series.
Australia’s recovery from a shaky 6-91 late on Sunday, also helped by Cummins’ 41, was the latest twist in an epic Test full of momentum swings.
Indian superstar Jasprit Bumrah finished with figures of 5-57, giving him nine wickets for the Test and taking him to 30 for the series.
Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne, who played in the 2021 loss, said Brisbane’s wicket was too far away from the MCG pitch.
Just as Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar changed India’s fortunes on Saturday with their epic eighth-wicket stand, Reddy feels a good partnership on Monday will set India up for victory.
Starc noted that the absorbing competition was the perfect counterattack to some comments that testing should be shortened to four days.
“That’s why we have five days for a Test match and we really support that for those who want four days,” he told ABC Radio.