What’s the story?
From Bangladesh’s referral for the ball hitting the middle of Virat Kohli’s bat to the Indian skipper’s decision to review a caught behind to dismiss Soumya Sarkar, the one-off Test between India and Bangladesh has already given us a lot of memorable moments when it comes to the Decision Review System.
India’s wicketkeeper, Wriddhiman Saha, who scored his second Test century earlier today, was involved in four such decisions. Two of those came during his partnership with Kohli. Though he wanted the skipper to review the umpire’s decision on both occasions, Kohli did it once and got a reprieve, while on the second occasion, he failed to do so but the replays suggested that ball was hitting his pad outside the off-stump.
Talking about those two incidents in the press conference, Saha made certain revelations.
“During the first instance, I told him that he had stretched to play and the ball was turning. So he went for it and was not out. On the second occasion, I told him that impact might outside off. Even he wasn't sure about it and feared that it could be umpire's call. So, he walked away and decided to save one review for the team”.
The context
India has an upper hand against Bangladesh after the end of day 2 as they are leading Mushfiqur Rahim and his men by 646 runs. India declared their innings with the scorecard reading 687/6 with Murali Vijay and Saha scoring centuries while skipper Kohli managing to make it big by scoring his fourth 200 in the last 4 series.
In reply, Bangladesh lost the wicket of Soumya Sarkar for 15 when Kohli decided to go with his instinct and reviewed a caught behind that eventually went in favour of his team. This is one of the other two DRS referrals involving Saha, while the fourth one was when the visitors reviewed an lbw against the Bengal gloveman and he survived.
The details
When Kohli was batting on 180, he was given out by the umpire Joel Wilson off the bowling of Mehdi Hasan. Kohli stretched forward and offered a front foot defence to the ball that pitched outside off, spun a long way and hit his pads right in front of the off stump. It looked plumb in front and the Indian captain was adjudged out.
He had a brief chat with Saha before going for the review. Fortunately for him, the ball-tracker suggested that the ball spun a long way and was going down the leg stump.
Soon after scoring his 200, Kohli was adjudged out by the umpire Marais Erasmus off the bowling of Taijul Islam. Once again, it looked plumb as the ball was on its way to hit the top of the middle and off stump. Once again, he went to Saha, discussed with him and decided to walk off.
The replays suggested that the ball was hitting the stumps but the impact of the ball before hitting the pad was outside the off stump. Had Kohli reviewed it, he could have added more runs to his tally.
Also read: India vs Bangladesh 2017, day 2- Stats: Records galore as India make merry
Video
This is what happened when Virat Kohli decided to review the umpire’s decision when he was batting on 180.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Kohli was completely in a league of his own and registered yet another double century. Saha was right when it came to the first DRS decision and on the second occasion, both the batsmen were unsure about the impact of the ball.
In hindsight, it would have made sense for him to have reviewed the umpire’s decision. Given Virat Kohli’s penchant to employ DRS, it was indeed surprising to see him not review the verdict. He was on song and looked on course for a triple-ton.
But he appeared certain as he walked off and that’s Kohli for you – a skipper that relies on instincts and a man who is assured of his actions at all times.
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