IND vs SA | Twitter in splits as lawyer Kohli successfully presents Iyer's case for boundary against umpire

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Sports has a universal tradition of arguing against officials despite the negligible chance of an impact but Virat Kohli managed to pull off the rare change of heart on Sunday. He claimed that Shreyas Iyer had hit a ball that had been declared byes, causing the umpire to reverse his decision.

India had a statement-making start with the bat after opting to set a target against South Africa at the Eden Gardens, ending the powerplay with a handsome scoreline of 91/1. However, the dismissal of openers Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma in tandem with the spinners being able to turn the ball square on a dry surface strangled the scoring rate, making boundaries seem like a luxury for Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. When the latter was thus presented with an opportunity to add some crucial runs to his underwhelming score, Kohli ensured his partner-in-crime did not let it go to waste by channeling his inner lawyer.  

Iyer, trotting along on 12 off 35 deliveries, got on strike on the third ball of the 22nd over with Tabraiz Shamsi up against him. The wrist-spinner flighted a delivery on middle and leg that turned in sharply towards the batter's pads who attempted to deftly paddle it fine past the wicket-keeper. The Kookaburra only just missed the stumps as a result and raced away to the ropes. However, much to Kohli's shock, Paul Reiffel signaled byes, leaving the veteran with his eyes stretched apart and mouth wide agape. He seemed to rhetorically confirm with Iyer whether bat was involved before walking down to the umpire and notifying him of the same and surprisingly, Reiffel agreed to reverse his decision to award four runs off the bat. To add to all that chaos, Ultra Edge ultimately revealed that Iyer had in fact got no bat on the ball but it was too little too late.

Incidentally, Iyer had been involved in a similar incident in the previous game against Sri Lanka as well where his appeals for reversing the byes decision had went unheard. Twitterati was quick to laud Kohli for helping his teammate ease off the pressure by earning him four free runs.

What a shot!

A great help

4 more runs added

Good partnership

This is cinema

Under pressure?

The difference

Calculative and careful

Short-ball vs Iyer

Lets see

Attack started

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