IND VS AUS: Bat first, pad first? But Virat Kohli had to go

Virat Kohli dismissed in controversial manner as replays fail to figure out whether the ball initially made contact with bat or pad

There is an age-old convention in cricket, before the current days of TV replays and Decision Review System (DRS), that the benefit of doubt should favour the batsman or, rather, the gender-neutral term batter.

The logic for this is simple… while the batter has only one life in his or her knock, the bowler has many chances to dismiss him or her.

On Day Two of the second Test between India and Australia, umpire Nitin Menon did not give the benefit of doubt to India’s star batter and former captain Virat Kohli when he was struck on the pads as he stretched fully forward by the visiting team’s debutant left-arm orthodox slow bowler Matthew Kuhnemann.

The ball struck the pad, but the bat was also very close and it was difficult to judge, even after repeated replays, whether the ball hit the bat or the pad first.

Menon’s marginal call

The angle of the ball also appeared to take it slightly down the leg, but umpire Menon thought otherwise and ruled in favour of the fielding side.

Kohli was batting cautiously by eschewing risky shots to the fullest extent and was on 44 when the umpire’s finger went up. He indicated his bat had made contact with the ball before it struck the pad and straightaway asked for the DRS.

But with the third umpire not getting any conclusive evidence to overturn the verdict (on whether the ball touched the bat first before hitting the pad) the decision of Menon stayed.

Also read: India vs Australia: Pat on the back

Kohli had to return to the pavilion after having had a stay of 128 minutes during which he faced 84 balls. The star batter’s dismissal became an important point of discussion about the day’s play.

Back-to-back wickets

India were in deep trouble when Kohli, whose last Test century had come way back in November 2019 when he made 136 against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens, departed at 135 and was followed into the dressing room soon afterwards by wicketkeeper batter KS Bharat at 139 as seventh wicket.

The hosts were bailed out by the eighth wicket pair of Axar Patel (74) and Ravichandran Ashwin (37) through a partnership of 114 runs in 127 minutes as India were shot out one run short of the visitors’ first innings score of 263.

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