Australia played a smart trick on the second day of the third Test against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as wicketkeeper Alex Carey could often be seen removing the bails and Steve Smith appeal for stumping. According to former India player Parthiv Patel, this is loophole in the rulebooks which was duly exploited by the Steve Smith-led visitors in Indore. “Did you notice removing the bails and appealing to get catch reviewed too during stumping calls. Isn’t this unfair? Thy are saving DRS reviews. What do you think?” a fan asked on Cricbuzz.
“There is a loophole in the rule. If there is an appeal of stumping, you have to go through the full process if the umpire has asked help from the third-umpire. They will also see if the batter has edged or not. He is aware of that and exploited the loophole. There can be two solution to this. One, the on-field umpire is so confident, that should avoid going to the third umpire just for checking if he is sure that it’s not out when there is an appeal. The ideal solution is that the TV umpire should only review the stumping if the appeal is made only for a stumping. A caught behind should not be checked unless the fielding captain opts for a review. When there is a caught behind or LBW appeal, check for that only,” Parthiv Patel said on Cricbuzz.
Australia on Day 2 started their innings at 156/4, with Peter Handscomb (7*) and Cameron Green (6*) unbeaten. But the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin (3/44) and pacer Umesh Yadav (3/12) brought to the game such a cocktail of spin and pace, that Australia lost the rest of their six wickets within 41 runs, bundling out for 197.
Trailing by 88, Team India had their task cut out, to survive against Australian spinners and build up a formidable total. But in the end, the hosts’ batting lineup was brought down on its knees by Nathan Lyon, who took eight wickets for 64 runs. Matthew Kuhnemann and Mitchell Starc also took a wicket each.
India was bundled out for 163 runs and Cheteshwar Pujara (59) was the only one that offered resistance to Australia’s tactics. Hosts walked away from the field with a slender lead of 75 runs, setting a target of 76 runs for Australia.
