The Decision Review System is being used for the very first time in India and the Indian players would be thankful they have finally taken the system into their fold.
Across the two Test matches, the DRS has come to India's rescue on at least 3 occasions and the decisions have been largely in the favour of the hosts. In what can be seen as a massive moment in the ongoing Test match, Moeen Ali was adjudged leg before wicket, even as he was charging down the stumps to a Jayant Yadav off break.
The ball hit his front pad first and then squeezed onto his bat. On-field umpire Kumar Dharamsena had enough doubt in his mind and gave it in favour of Moeen. However, Jayant had no doubt that the ball would go on to hit the stumps and persuaded skipper Virat Kohli to ask for a referral. Kohli was only waiting for the bowler's approval and decided to go for it.
The third umpire took a close look at the events and the ball was pitching in line, hit Moeen on the pads just within the stumps, and to the delight of the Indians went on to hit the leg-stump. What started off as a casual review resulted in the dismissal of Moeen Ali, who was the man of the match in the previous Test match.
The decision had to be reversed, and it was once again umpire Kumar Dharamsena who was under the scanner.
Former England skipper and commentator Nasser Hussain who was on air during the dismissal said, "In million years of playing cricket, you would never have got this out."
Under the laws formed by the International Cricket Council's, if a batsman is more than 2.5 metres away from his stumps, the distance between the point of pitching and point of impact has to be less than 40 centimetres.
On a pitch which is offering a little bit of assistance to the Indian spin bowlers, the combination of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav have found their groove and are posing plenty of questions to the English batsmen. Also, the scoreboard pressure will be telling on the visitors, who have been pushed to the corner currently.
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