SL vs IND | Twitter and Mendis in disbelief as Paul Reiffel leisurely decision results in umpiring blunder

Winning the toss and electing to bat first didn’t quite look like a great decision from Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka when Mohammed Siraj earned a wicket on the first ball of the innings. However, the pair of Avishka Fernando and Kusal Mendis were unfettered by the early blow and milked their way to a 42-run first powerplay score. Eyeing to enforce a breakthrough, India’s bowling changes almost yielded results in the 12th over, only to realise an umpiring blunder.

The third ball of the 12th over saw Axar Patel come around the wicket and bowl a fuller-than-a-good length delivery angled into Kusal at the fourth stump. The batter was drawn on the front foot to nudge but the white cherry gripped and turned away sharply to beat the outside edge. Umpire Reiffel acknowledged the Indian appeal with a delayed response before the former Lankan captain was caught bemused. As they went upstairs for a review, the Ultraedge showed a big gap between the ball and the bat, and hence the original decision was overturned. Subsequently, the prompt confusion on Kusal’s face was justified, sparking the Twitterverse into a discussion.

That was some blunder!

There's way too much gap between bat and ball!

Hahaha! He's good bowler tho!

Yes he did!

Really?

He did in right time!

That was some good trap!

LOL! 😭😭😭