An eagle-eyed Twitter user spotted an apparent error in the HawkEye projection used in an lbw DRS review by India against Steve Smith in the third Test against Australia at Sydney.

After Smith was struck attempting a sweep shot against Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane was initially reluctant to go upstairs, but was persuaded by the insistence of the off-spinner to seek the recourse of technology.

The on-air commentators were initially disparaging of the review, feeling the ball was clearly down the leg-side. After TV umpire Bruce Oxenford determined Smith had not hit the ball, there was a long wait before the HawkEye projection could be shown.

When the ball-tracking prediction was ready, it came as a surprise to many to see the ball clipping the stumps, meaning India retained their review.

The pundits put it down to a misreading of Ashwin’s delivery, with the off-spinner bowling an out-swinger rather than a stock ball. But an observant Twitter user spotted a seeming inconsistency between the graphic of the ball’s path and the actual image of the shot on which it had been overlaid.

“They’ve clearly overlaid the stumps here incorrectly,” pointed out iBlatant. “Look where the off stump is on the graphic compared to in reality.”

This showed the stumps shifted slightly to the left, from the position of the umpire at the non-striker’s end. If it’s the case that the projection of the delivery is accurate, but the position of the stumps is wrong, then India may well have retained a review when they shouldn’t have.

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