WPL, UPW vs MI | Twitter slams third umpire for falling victim to the dark side of slo-mo replays

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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In football, the saying goes everything looks worse in slow motion and the adage found its way to cricket too on Friday. UP Warriorz had managed to dismiss courtesy of a brilliant catch, only for the third umpire to conclude the ball had touched the ground after a few blurry replays.

Mumbai Indians seized the momentum of the game early on in the innings against UP Warriorz at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, with a place in the final against Delhi Capitals at stake. Opener Yastika Bhatia set a good foundation with her 18-ball 21 while Hayley Matthews kept the scoreboard ticking at the other end, taking the side to 46/1 at the end of the powerplay. The West Indian, having a global reputation of being a destructive batter capable of dismantling any opposition, had started to look increasingly comfortable as she settled in but seemed to throw away her wicket in the ninth over, only for the third umpire to save her the blushes.

The wily Deepti Sharma had the ball in hand and knowing that the batter needed to accelerate, she lured her into playing a big shot on the legside where a fielder was stationed. Matthews failed to get the best connection with the ball but fielder Anjali Sarvani was placed deeper alongside the boundary ropes, thus requiring her to make a sprint to complete the catch. The Indian pacer proved to be up to the task and threw in a last-minute lunge to grasp the ball a few inches off the ground. An emphatic Sarvani raised her finger in celebration while her ecstatic teammates huddled around her but the umpire decided to confirm whether the catch was taken completely. 

Real-time and the usual slow-motion replays showed there was a clear gap between Sarvani's hands and the surface, thereby bringing the visitors confidence. However, the third umpire had a closer look and extremely zoomed-up images of the incident showed the fielder might have slightly brushed her fingers against the grass. However, the ball was safely clutched in her hands with three fingers under the ball. Even so, despite the lack of conclusive proof, the umpire decided to base his decision on the extremely blurred images that lay in front of him and declared the batter to be not out, much to UP's frustration. Even though Matthews fell shortly after for a run-a-ball 26 to leave the side at 69/2 after 9.1 overs, Twiteratti was irked all the same

Third umpiring bunder? 

What was that?

Blind and stupid

Questions around

Pathetic umpiring!

RIP umpiring

Clean than ever!

Really bad decision

Worst thing ever

Shocking!

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