R Ashwin in a chat with Ben Stokes© BCCI/Sportzpics
The Test series between India and England might have ended but the battle on social media continues. India’s Ravichandran Ashwin, who was one of the team’s finest performers in the 5-match assignment, brought the umpire’s call chatter to life again, as he shared a post from an incident during the New Zealand vs Australia 2nd Test. The post from Ashwin garnered plenty of attention from fans on social media as the India star seemed to have taken a subtle dig at Ben Stokes and the England team.
It all happened when Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh saw a delivery from Kiwi pacer Ben Sers hit his pads. The umpire raised his finger following a strong appeal, but Marsh decided to review.
While there was no bat involved, ball-tracking showed that the delivery would’ve clipped the sutmps, hence, umpire’s call was given.
Ashwin sensed an opportunity to share a tongue-in-cheek post on X (formerly Twitter).
“An umpires call to push this test to a nail biting finish. #AUSVNZ
Some support from England to Australia for (right tick),” Ashwin posted.
England captain Ben Stokes had publicly questioned the validity of “Umpire’s Call” in DRS reviews, suggesting if the ball is found to be hitting the stumps even marginally, the batter should be given out. The decision to revert to the on-field umpire’s call in such an instance didn’t make sense for Stokes.
As for the New Zealand vs Australia match, Marsh’s dismissal didn’t derail Australia’s run-chase, with wicket-keeper batter Alex Carey and captain Pat Cummins taking the team home. Carey remained unbeaten on 98 as Cummins hit the winning runs to wrap-up the chase.
“Pretty tense, everyone was nervous the last couple of hours. Amazing win. (On winning runs) Anyway possible to win, I had no idea he (Carey) was on 98. The toss helped, it was funny how quickly the match moved on Day 1. First innings leads are always key for this reason. We’ve been on the other side of Tests plenty of time, I just told the boys to keep the scoreboard moving, stay busy and put the pressure on the opposition.
“We’ve got an experienced side, the story of this series has been guys standing up in crunch moments. Love playing Test matches, best format of cricket and it pays off on days like this,” Cummins said after the match.
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
