BGT 2023 | Twitter bashes Nitin Menon for controversially giving 'local boy' Virat Kohli out

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Sometimes, the fortune of games is decided by the slightest of margins, bringing along inevitable controversy. One such close call was made by Nitin Menon against Virat Kohli on Saturday at his home ground Arun Jaitley Stadium, and unsurprisingly, the umpire received heavy criticism for his doing.

Nitin Menon had a tough day in the office at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium during Day 2 of the second Test between India and Australia. The umpire made numerous incorrect decisions on Saturday, and all of them were regarding LBW appeals. However, all other woes aside, the one decision that sparked the most controversy was Virat Kohli’s wicket in the 50th over of India’s innings.

Although Kohli has not been at his fluent best in Test cricket for a while, he batted flawlessly at the Arun Jaitley Stadium – a venue he knows inside out, given it is his home stadium. The batter steadied the ship alongside Ravindra Jadeja to help India stage a recovery from 66/4, and it seemed apparent that the veteran would be crossing the three-digit mark for the 28th time in red-ball cricket. However, the dream was cut short for the 34-year-old as Kohli failed to read debutant Matthew Kuhnemann’s arm ball before it hit his pad.

There was a huge appeal for LBW from the tourists, and Menon raised his finger to give Kohli out. However, Kohli took the DRS straightaway, potentially thinking the ball would miss the leg stump. Interestingly, the replay revealed another interesting aspect, as the ball was too close to the bat when it hit his pad. Third umpire Richard Illingworth did not find any conclusive evidence that the SG ball struck the bat first and went through with the on-field decision. The hawk-eye then confirmed that the ball would have just clipped the leg stump, and thus, the on-field decision remained intact.

Kohli, as well as India’s think tank, was predictably not happy with the decision, and everyone was shaking their heads when he returned to the pavilion. Twitterati too joined the party as they were not pleased with Menon’s umpiring either.

Now that's controversial!

What's umpire looking at?

But why?

Now its commom!

Definately not happy!

Too unluck now

Some grudge

Debutant's magic

Don't cry!

Debatable

That's true now!

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