In Ranchi, England swiftly expanded on their first-innings advantage of 46 during the second session of Day 4, surging past the 100-run mark in just over 25 overs. Zak Crawley led the charge with an undefeated half-century at the time of reporting.
However, India managed to seize three wickets in the process, all falling victim to Ravichandran Ashwin, who delivered two consecutive blows in the fifth over to dismiss Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope. Notably, Ashwin’s dismissal of Joe Root, the centurion from the first innings, sparked controversy in the digital realm and fueled England’s growing skepticism towards DRS technology.
In the 17th over, Ashwin bowled a full delivery from around the wickets, pitching on leg stump, which sharply turned to beat Root’s inside edge and struck his front pad. Despite a vehement appeal, the on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena remained unmoved, judging the ball to be sliding down leg.
However, Rohit Sharma promptly opted for a review, and with good reason, as Hawk-Eye revealed that the ball had pitched in line with the stumps by the narrowest of margins, with a trajectory suggesting it would convincingly hit leg stump, thus avoiding an umpire’s call verdict.
Ashwin erupted in celebration as the decision flashed on the big screen, while Root and Crawley appeared stunned, the former expressing his frustration as he walked off. In the England camp, there was intense scrutiny of the footage from the balcony to confirm the accuracy of what they had seen.
This scrutiny continued for several minutes, with Root eventually joining in after removing his gear. On Twitter, debates ensued regarding the amount of turn, with some arguing that the ball should have missed the stumps.
However, others countered that Ashwin had delivered the ball from a position almost at the edge of the pitch, suggesting that the observed deviation was appropriate, considering the SG ball would naturally angle towards the off stump in such circumstances.