Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed after Rohit Sharma and India burned all three of their reviews inside 60 overs.
After a stellar first session, India were frustrated by Joe Root and Ben Foakes as the pair put on a dogged partnership to keep the home team waiting. India had England on the mat at 112/5 but Root and Foakes added a century-stand to deny Rohit and Co their wish of wrapping the England innings quickly. Root and Foakes ensured England had their first-ever wicketless session between lunch and tea, while India rued wasting all three of their reviews inside 60 overs.
Rohit Sharma was in the firing line as India lost two reviews off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja(Screengrab-AP)
The first two reviews were burned on Root and the final one on Foakes, shortly into the third session. Ravindra Jadeja had the England wicketkeeper batter pinned on the backfoot as India went up straight away. As the umpire turned it down, Rohit was once again in the centre of fire as after a long discussion with the player, he went upstairs. But as per the ball tracker, the ball pitched in line, hit in line but was going down leg missing all three stumps.
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Before India lost all their reviews, as the ball tracking was awaited, the camera kept showing Rohit on the big screen, which led to the captain losing his cool. He made a gesture towards the big screen asking the cameraman to focus on the DRS rather than him – something he did during last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. And as it turned out, the moment he did that, the ball tracker appeared.
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However, once Foakes survived, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar on air acknowledged it was a bad call. “Not the best of referrals. Rohit wasn’t keen. It was pretty much like he was forced into it. There was just a hint of turn, the batter would have been in trouble but the ball went straight through. Didn’t even hit the back pad; just hit the front pad,” Gavaskar said on air.
“All reviews are lost now. Bowlers do get excited; I can understand. They want a wicket, but they (others) have got to realise where it was that the ball hit. You want to be sure at least that if it doesn’t go your way, they should get the benefit of the umpire’s call. Then it’s fine. You don’t lose the review; here you’ve lost the review.”
Nick Knight agrees
Former England opener Nick Knight, who was with Gavaskar in commentary duties when India’s third DRS went begging, agreed with his broadcasting partner. England were piling the frustration on India with a 113-run partnership but fortunately for the home team, Mohammed Siraj provided the breakthrough with the wicket of Foakes and followed it with Tom Hartley’s. But Joe Root is going strong and not having a single review left could come back to haunt India.
“It was an emotional review from Jadeja who was pleading with Rohit to go upstairs. But I am with you; this did not look convincing. This is significant because they now have no reviews and England have three,” Knight added.
