VIDEO | Peter Handscomb doesn't wait for Umpire's decision; walks off on seeing MS Dhoni's confident appeal

01/15/2019

MS Dhoni's stumping has been a part of the cricket lore, not only because of his brilliance but also due to other’s confidence in it. When MS Dhoni started appealing for a stumping today, Peter Handscomb immediately walked back to the pavilion despite the umpire waiting for third umpire verdict.

His 96-ball 51 at the SCG may have been criticised by all and sundry for the way he consumed a lot of balls, but within the first couple of hours in Adelaide, Dhoni precisely made sure that why he is still ahead of everyone in the other aspects of the game. The dismissal of Peter Handscomb was a classic Dhoni stumping, but the way the batsman responded to it was the moment of the match, so far.

Ravindra Jadeja, who was successful in sending Usman Khawaja with a brilliant left-arm throw from mid-off, bowled a flighted delivery outside Handscomb's off-stump and it had four written all over it. Handscomb was clearly lured by the dismissal as he attempted a slog-sweep and carried away with the momentum of that.

However, he misjudged it completely and by the time, MS Dhoni was able to collect the ball, his body was not within the line of the crease. The Victorian tried to drag his foot inside the line, but the Indian wicket-keeper took his own sweet time to do what he does best - whip off the bails.

While the entire team, including Dhoni, started appealing in unison, the on-field umpire decided to go upstairs to check if Handscomb’s foot was inside the line of the crease. However, seeing Dhoni appealing confidently, Handscomb didn’t see any reason to stay back for the third umpire’s decision. He walked back to the pavilion and by the time the verdict was flashed on the big screen, he had already reached the boundary line.