Wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan received flak from the 1983 World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar and ex-India spinner Murali Karthik after he tried to trick Tom Latham into believing that he had got himself out hit wicket.
Ishan Kishan's cheeky attempt though didn't earn him any brownie points from Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Karthik who didn't approve of the 24-year-old cricketer's tactics.
The incident happened in the 16th over when Ishan Kishan appealed for a hit wicket decision against Tom Latham after Kuldeep Yadav delivered the ball, and the New Zealand batter dabbed it to short mid-wicket.
At this moment, Ishan Kishan, India captain Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav looked excited while Tom Latham appeared confused because he didn't have any clue about what has happened.
That is when the picture clear as replays showed that it was Ishan Kishan who had taken the bails off after Tom Lathan had struck the ball.
Ishan Kishan gives a deja-vu to Tom Latham
#IshanKishan #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/DsV1QTKriy— Shrey Arya (@ShreyArya4) January 18, 2023
Ishan Kishan probably was trolling the Kiwi batter, reminding him about Hardik Pandik's contentious dismissal earlier in the day, but Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Karthik were still not buying that argument.
“You can appeal all you want, but that is not the right thing,” an upset Murali Kartik said on live TV.
“As a joke, it was ok. But then to go and appeal, don't think that is the right thing to do. As a joke to maybe say or suggest to Tom Latham that what had happened earlier on when India were batting… that is understandable. But not to appeal. That is not on. That is not cricket,” Sunil Gavaskar said.
The Jharkhand player's attempt to prank Tom Latham stemmed came after Hardik Pandya was given out in controversial circumstances in Hyderabad, leading to heavy criticism of the umpire on social media.
The shocking episode happened in the 40th over of the home team's innings when Hardik Pandya went for a cut shot against New Zealand pacer Daryl Mitchell. But the 29-year-old cricketer mistimed his stroke and the ball went into the gloves of Tom Latham who was keeping wickets for the visitors. As the ball fizzed past the wickets, the bails fell and the Kiwis appealed for a bowled dismissal.
With the on-field umpires unsure whether Hardik Pandya was out, they asked the third umpire to make the decision. KN Ananthapadmanabhan then looked at multiple replays before declaring the Indian batter out. This came after shots from different angles seem to suggest that it was Tom Lathan who had dislodged the bails.
Once the decision was shown on the big screen, a shell-shocked Hardik Pandya made his walk back to the pavilion.
The decision left Hardik Pandya's wife Natasa Stankovic fuming, who took to Instagram to share her reaction over the matter.
Natasa Stankovic wrote, “There was no bat involved, wasn't bowled out. So how's this out?”.
Soon after, the Serbian dancer/model's post went viral on the popular video and photo-sharing platform.
Besides Natasa Stankovic, former cricketers and Indian cricket fans were left flabbergasted after the umpire's decision-making.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri, who was in the commentary box at the time, reckoned the India batter was “not out”. “Oh, it's been given out! Daryl Mitchell should be happy,” Shastri said on live TV.
“Should really be happy, because that, if you take a look again as to where the keeper's gloves are, where the ball is as it passes the stumps, it looked as if the ball was at least an inch, inch-and-a-half above the stumps … Ball clearly looks to be above the bail. You can see as it goes past into the gloves, there's no red light, it's only after that. There you go. From that angle you can see that the gloves are closer to the bails than the ball,” he added.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also felt Hardik Pandya was done in by the umpire whose call was clearly not fair to the Indian cricket team's vice-captain.
“Forget about split screens and replays, the cut shot from Shubhman Gill proved why Hardik was clearly Not Out,” Ravichandran Ashwin wrote on Twitter.
Cricketer-turned-commentator Wasim Jaffer shared similar views and tweeted: “Hardik robbed there.”
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill, who was at the non-striker's end when the incident took place, also thought that Hardik Pandya was not out.
“As a non-striker batsman, I didn't think that the ball hit the stumps, even when I was watching the replay. Sometimes there's a blind spot – you can't really tell what happened. I thought with the bail falling towards the crease, it's a bit weird if the ball is hitting like that and the bail falling towards the crease,” Shubman Gill said at the post-match press conference.
“These bails are different. It's a heavy bail and the stumps are a bit different. But, at the end of the day, you have to go with the third umpire and respect his decision,” he added.
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