The dismissal of Australia skipper Tim Paine on the third day of the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground caused controversy after former Australia pace bowler Merv Hughes raised questions over the umpire’s decision following evidence from snicko and hotspot.
Paine was the sixth man out with Australia on 99 in the second innings and still 32 runs behind India.
The Aussie captain, who scored a match-turning unbeaten 73 in the first Test, tried to cut a delivery from left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja but was caught behind. The umpire did not give it out but the India skipper Ajinkya Rahane referred it.
While the hotspot did not show any spot on the bat and there seemed to be a slight gap between the bat and ball to the naked eye on replays, the soundwave on the snicko showing a slight disturbance. The third umpire gave it out with Paine returning to the dressing room very unhappy.
“You need two pieces of information to overturn that decision (of Paine’s dismissal) which was originally given not out by the umpire. One is the hotspot and the other is the snicko. You cannot overturn an on-field umpire’s decision on the basis of just one,” said Hughes to ABC Sport.
Former Australia and Netherlands pace bowler Dirk Nannes, however, disagreed, saying that the umpire made the right call on the evidence available although he did say that Paine’s bat did not touch the ball.
“The umpire made the right call on the evidence available. The snicko showed a bit of spike although I am not convinced he hit the ball,” said Nannes while pointing out the flaw in the snicko.
Both the Aussies also talked about the possibility of other objects’ sounds being caught by the snicko.
Former India batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Sunil Gavaskar had earlier questioned the ‘Umpires Call’ clause in the Decision Review System with Tendulkar even asking the International Cricket Council to reassess it.
