Why was Ravichandran Ashwin denied of his 500th Test wicket on Day 4 of Vizag Test?

Ravi Ashwin. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Ravichandran Ashwin came within a whisker of taking his 500th Test wicket during the second Test between India and England in Visakhapatnam. Tom Hartley survived a close call thanks to the DRS.

The incident happened in the 63rd over when Hartley attempted a reverse sweep off Ashwin. The ball seemed to have lobbed up after ricocheting off the batter’s gloves and the leg-slip fielder had no problems in taking a simple catch. On-field umpire Chris Gaffaney ruled the batter out. However, Hartley challenged the call.

Replays showed that the ball missed his gloves and instead hit his forearm before lobbing up. There was no chance of a caught-behind in the case. Third umpire Paul Reiffel checked the LBW as well. It was the ‘Umpire’s call’ on impact as well as hitting. Gaffaney was asked to reverse his decision. Rohit Sharma and the rest of the Indian team as well as the fans were left confused as the original decision was out. However, the initial out was given for caught-behind and not for LBW. That is why the umpire’s call saved Hartley from being dismissed LBW.

Ashwin picked up important wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Joe Root before the dramatic incident took place. He just needed one more wicket to enter the 500 Test wickets club. However, he got to bowl only one more over after this and failed to add to his wickets tally.

India restore parity in the series with thumping win

England needed another 332 runs, with nine wickets in hand, when play started on Day 4. 28 runs were added by the overnight pair of Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed before the latter was dismissed by Axar Patel. Ollie Pope and Joe Root played their shots but they failed to convert their starts into knocks of substance.

The tourists scored 130 runs in the morning session but also lost five wickets, including the well-set Crawley for 73. A moment of brilliance in the field from Shreyas Iyer ended Ben Stokes’ stay at the crease. Tom Hartley and Ben Foakes put on a 55-run partnership to delay the inevitable. However, once the latter was dismissed, it was only a matter of time before the curtains would be drawn on the English innings. The last three wickets fell to the seamers, as India won by 106 runs and levelled the series 1-1, with three more games to play.