India batsman Suryakumar Yadav’s quickfire half-century in his maiden internatiꦉonal innings was cut short by a controversial dismissal made by the third umpire in the 14th over of the 4th T20I against England at Ahmedabad.
Suryakumar had to depart for 57 (31) despite “no conclusive evidence” of Dawid Malan completing the catch at deep fine-leg.
Suryakumar played the ‘Nataraja shot’ off Sam Curran and the ball flew straight to Malan. But the onfield umpire sent it upstairs with a soft signal of ‘out’. There was “no conclusive evidence”, according to the third umpire and the replays also confirmed that the ball had hit the ground.
Suryakumar’s dismissal sparked social media outrage as many fans and experts questioned the ‘soft signal’ rule.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Third umpire while making that decision.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag)
Surya kumar was not out.. Te𒈔ꦑrrible 3rd umpiring 😡��😡
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI)
This Soft signal rule & the Umpire’s call really makes no sense. The umpire is going to the 3rd umpire only because he is not sure 🙄
What a great debut⛎ knock by sad he had to go like this.— Saiyami Kher (@SaiyamiKher)
Looks Not out
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru)
Soft Signal for catches t♚aken in the deep is farcical. MUST be avoided. Adding to the confusion. Not solving a problem.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
What the… Suryakumar was not out..!!!! 😡😡😡
— divyenndu (@divyenndu)
How can this be out.🐎 When you are not sure whether the ball was taken cleanly after watching so many replays using top class technology and still go by the soft signal given by the on-field umpire. I think this rule needs to be revisited and changed.
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281)
Unlucky Suryakumar Yadav poor decisionܫ by umpire onfield and♚ 3rd umpire Hard luck SKY
— Danish Kaneria (@DanishKaneria61)
Soft signal. Can we get rid of this ? It makes 💯no sense whatsoever. will be gutted
— Dodda Ganesh |♛ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಗಣೇಶ್ (@doddaganesha)
//twitter.com/Shubham64521499/status/137💦25613484🌠80040967
//t൩witter.com/Ishisuru1/status/1372561323888758795
OUT?????? 😑🥲
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB)
The ball was clearly touching 🍒the ground when they Zoomed and not sure what else Third umpire need as conclusive evidence.
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket)
Soft signal is based on how fielding team reacts! Feel technology should be used completely when third u🦹mpire is making the decision. Should overrule the on-field umpire if need be.
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang)
//twitter.com/iamrealamar/status/1372561💦279978668043
It was clearly not-out, feel for Suryakumꦚar or anyone who was goi𒅌ng in that form in his first innings in International career.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns)
No conclusive evidence ☹️
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan)
Great fielding effort. But not out IMO. Again, soft signal … might pinch quite hard .. Why should the umpire have to observe a soft signal from so far out.. when it’s so tricky even for the third umpire on replays! 🤭
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru)
Not out for me. Even though TV replays ౠmake these look worse, the fingers aren’t underneath in this one for me. And the ball does touch the turf before the fielder has control of it.
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK)
