IND vs ENG | Twitter reacts to England's great digital divide as Root's LBW leaves visitors baffled
The focus of an intense series between two giants has gradually been shifting away from the on-field action of late and seems to be culminating in a watershed moment for DRS. The latest chapter of the saga unfurled on Sunday with Joe Root left thoroughly unconvinced by technology ruling him out LBW.
England built up on their first-innings lead of 46 in Ranchi at a rapid rate in the second session of Day 4 to get past 100 in a little over 25 overs. Zak Crawley headlined their efforts with an unbeaten half-century at the time of writing but India did manage to scalp three wickets in the process, all of them belonging to Ravichandran Ashwin including two successive blows in the fifth over to get rid of Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope. However, it was his dismissal of the first-innings centurion Joe Root that stirred up controversy in the digital world and further gave fuel to England's recent narrative of distrust in DRS technology.
Ashwin capped off the 17th over with a full delivery from around the wickets on leg stump that seemed to turn considerably Root after pitching to beat the inside edge and thump into his front pad. A loud appeal followed but Kumar Dharmasena remained unmoved given the ball seemed to be sliding down leg. However, Rohit Sharma was uncharacteristically quick to send the decision upstairs, and for good reason, since Hawk-Eye showed the red cherry had pitched in line by the barest of margins and would have gone on to strike leg stump convincingly enough to avoid an umpire's call verdict. An ecstatic Ashwin leaped up in celebration as soon as the big screen flashed the decision while both Root and Crawley seemed shell-shocked, the former shaking his head in disgust as he walked off.
The England camp was seen fervently checking the footage on the balcony to confirm they had seen things correctly and continued to do so for several minutes after, with even Root joining them after making his way up and getting rid of his gear. Twitter argued that the amount of turn should have made the ball miss the stumps and were met with the counter-argument that Ashwin had delivered the delivery from almost the edge of the pitch, meaning the deviation shown was appropriate since the SG would have otherwise angle away towards the off stump.
— Shanaka Kundu (@KunduShanaka) February 25, 2024
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That's huge wicket!
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Very unlucky!
Joe Root finds himself extremely unlucky...
— Ritesh Sharma (@Ritesh_Sharma11) February 25, 2024
That was clearly visible that it hasn't Pitched in line,
Another DRS blunder...#INDvENG #INDvsENGTest #CricketTwitter
Was it pitching outside?
DRS of Joe Root going in India's favour could be a big Moment in this Test. Looked Not Out in real time to be honest. #INDvENG #INDvsENG
— Pratik Pathare (@PratikTwits) February 25, 2024
That's very tough call!
Trust me! If you really want to win like this? Absolutely Pathetic and manipulated DRS by India!
— Shaharyar Azhar (@azhar_shaharyar) February 25, 2024
Spoiling cricket every day!
It was clearly, umpires call or pitched outside but it was never pitched in line.#INDvsENG #joeroot #INDvsENGTest pic.twitter.com/SswQu1k60O
Ohhhh!!!
First innings joe root also favour drs so do not cry
— Drishyad (@zeoommm) February 25, 2024
GGG
Pitching Outside leg but DRS shows wrong for Joe Root 💔 Cheap from @BCCI for rigging DRS 💦 #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/skNhY2sVsu
— 🄺Ⓐ🅃🄷🄸🅁 1⃣5⃣ (@katthikathir) February 25, 2024
Looks like that!
Ultimately, Joe Root's leg was before the wicket.
— Cameron Ponsonby (@cameronponsonby) February 25, 2024
Whatever is given should be taken!
That DRS for LBW on Joe Root was pitched outside legstump and given out dubiously. #INDvENG
— ಪ್ರೀತಮ್ | preetam (@preetamhegde) February 25, 2024
Very excited!
The celebrations of Ravi Ashwin when he gets Joe Root.
— Nityananda Das🇮🇳 (@Jamesnisam5363) February 25, 2024
- The passion of Ashwin to the game is second to none, What a cricketer he is! 🙌#Root #INDvENG #Ashwin pic.twitter.com/BgUsd1fa9C