India vs England | Former cricketers back Joe Root’s controversial catch decision

Root was visibly upset at the contentious decision on his dismissal at Trent Bridge on Sunday, but a number of former Test players backed the call to send the England captain packing. The hosts horribly lost their way in the third Test after being bowled out by India in a session, with Root the fourth victim in a collapse of 74/9 on day two of the third Test.

Having defended at a back-of-a-length delivery from Hardik Pandya, who picked his first five-for as the hosts were bowled out for 161, the England skipper walked off shaking his head after being given out to low KL Rahul catch at second slip. Umpire Marais Erasmus gave a ‘soft-signal’ of out after consulting with his on-field counterpart Chris Gaffaney. Third umpire Aleem Dar concurred, with video replays providing no conclusive evidence to suggest the on-field decision was incorrect.

Former England batsman Mark Butcher further felt that the ball bounced off Rahul’s fingers into the palm as he tweeted that the decision was a correct one.

Ex-England captain Michael Vaughan agreed, suggesting the ball bounced up off Rahul’s finger rather than the turf.

“A lot of controversy with the catch, I thought he was caught. I think it bounces off the finger,” he told the BBC.

Speaking about Root’s decision, former Sri Lankan Test player Kumar Sangakkara felt that the English skipper was out as there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision.

“It does look out. It looked as if the fingers were underneath the ball. You do need a conclusive evidence to overturn any signal from the on-field umpires,” Sangakkara said while commentating for Sky Sports.

However, Vaughan said that the bigger issue for England is their tendency to fall in a heap with the bat under pressure, having lost all 10 wickets in a session for the third time in two years.

“It’s been an issue for the Test team for a while now. Yes, they weren’t ideal conditions for batting but they made the same mistakes they have made consistently for a number of years. I am learning nothing about the Test team in this series. They fall under pressure and that is not good,” Vaughan added.