England broken after Rishabh Pant’s insanely close DRS call: ‘That’s out’

One of cricket’s great controversies has reignited as almost identical balls saw one Indian star out and one not out.

Rishabh Pant was happy with the close call.

India have an eye on the World Test Championship final after a stunningly close DRS decision went its way as it built a big first innings lead in the fourth Test at Ahmedabad.

Chasing England’s 205 all out, India is 7/294 after Rishabh Pant (101) and Washington Sundar (60 not out) saved the day.

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India was in danger of trailing on first innings when Virat Kohli was removed for a duck and it slumped to 6/146. England looked to have its seventh wicket when the first ball of the final over before tea bowled by English spinner Dom Bess appeared to trap Pant in front.

Pant was settled on 35 off 60 balls when a ball that straightened looked to have the Indian star plumb.

But the umpire gave it not out and England skipper Joe Root had no hesitation but to send it upstairs.

On replay, the ball was deemed to be an umpires call despite hitting the bail.

It was a pretty close one.

Doesn't get any closer than this.

The close call didn’t bother Pant as he charged to another match-turning 100, bringing up the three figures with a six as India put England to the sword.

He was dismissed shortly after, smoking a pull shot straight at Joe Root at short mid wicket.

Pant's stroke of luck did come after Rohit Sharma was given out in a remarkably similar situation.

Batsman always says when the ball hits them above the pad ....decision should be not out .... #DRS#INDvsENG Any thoughts? pic.twitter.com/LuI72A3288

— Paul Adams (@PaulAdams39) March 5, 2021

While the close call hardly rated a mention on the host broadcast in the immediate aftermath of the decision, it was shown to Fox Cricket commentators Mark Waugh and Isa Guha as well as Aussie quick Pat Cummins during the fourth T20 between Australia and New Zealand.

Waugh was baffled the decision wasn't out.

“Hey?” Waugh said. “Oh no. That’s out.”

Cummins added: “Small little gripe, they measure the 50 per cent of the ball not from the top of the bail but the line at the top of the stump.”

Isa Guha added: “Which it should be the top of the bail. That’s where it becomes annoying for a bowler.”

“That’s out every day of the week,” Mark Waugh added.

Pant brought up a hundred with a six.

Cummins added that it was the same for both teams but that it’s taking the LBW largely out of the equation.

“It has to be hitting the stumps for a batter to be out LBW, but it can also be hitting the stumps and they still won’t be out,” he said. “It just brings down the area that you have to hit the stumps to be quite small. It almost has to be a half volley for someone who’s tall or you have to be bowling so straight from stump to stump.”

Fans were divided over the decisions.

Pant was more 'out' than Rohit, but that's how the DRS works. Make the umpires look far greater than they are.

— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) March 5, 2021

And while the Bairstow/Rohit wicket should not have been given on field, Pant against Bess probably should have been. Umpires call really messes with the decision making. #INDvENG

— Jack Mendel (@Mendelpol) March 5, 2021

That one was more out than Bairstow and Rohit IMO. This time Menon gives the batsman the benefit and Pant survives....could be a big moment

— Paul Newman 🌈 (@Paul_NewmanDM) March 5, 2021

It’s not been the only close call in this series either with both teams furious over contentious decisions.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was fuming in the second Test when Joe Root survived the closest of LBW shouts.

It was a contentious issue that haunted the Indian series against Australia.

In the Boxing Day Test, Marnus Labuschagne was given a lucky reprieve while Ravi Ashwin couldn’t have gotten any closer when he was denied against Mitchell Starc later in the match.

It led to Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar saying that “once you go upstairs, the on-field decision should not come into consideration at all”.

“It really does not matter if the ball is hitting 10 per cent or 15 per cent of the wicket,” Tendulkar said. “It should not matter because when you get bowled, no one talks about it.”

Rishabh Pant is on fire.

They weren’t the only tough calls with both teams left furious by a close call in Sydney while a close call in the same game showed the technology appearing to show four stumps.

The issue has been discussed by the MCC World Cricket committee with Shane Warne revealing that the MCC group had submitted some recommendations for the DRS going forward.

“We discussed this for about an hour-and-a-half,” Warne said on Wednesday afternoon.

“I’ve put forward that I think we should remove Umpire’s Call … because you can’t have the same ball be out or not out depending on what the on-field umpire said.

“You can’t have the same ball out or not out in my opinion, and generally, people thought the same.

“So we recommended to the ICC that the umpire’s original decision on the field should be removed … everyone was unanimous with it.”

Originally published as England broken after Rishabh Pant’s insanely close DRS call: ‘That’s out’