In a bizarre act, India wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan intentionally clipped off the bails without the ball in his gloves, resulting in a needless review of Tom Latham during the first India-New Zealand ODI, in Hyderabad.
Off the fourth ball of the 16th over, Tom Latham – playing his first delivery – went deep in his crease and tapped Kuldeep Yadav to the leg side. Kishan, behind the stumps, suddenly went up in appeal, catching the attention of skipper Rohit Sharma, who joined along. The leg umpire instantly took the decision upstairs, probably unclear as to what exactly had happened.
As the India team converged, an amused Kishan could be seen grinning with joy. TV umpire K Ananthapadmanabhan proceeded to check the footage.
Replays showed that Kishan, after two goes, intentionally used his right glove to clip one of the bails off, with Latham safe in his space and nowhere close to disturbing the stumps. It took little time for the umpire to push “Not Out” on the big screen.
As expected, the on-air commentators weren’t impressed by the silly manoeuvre, even as footage captured Kishan, still laughing.
“The cheeky grin is fine, but don’t think that was the right thing to do,” said Murali Kartik.
“As a joke it was okay, but then to go on to appeal, don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” Sunil Gavaskar said. “As a joke to maybe say, suggest to Tom Latham what had happened earlier when India was batting, that is understandable. But not to appeal. That is not on. That is not cricket.”
The incident Gavaskar was referring to – also involving Latham – occurred in the India innings, when Hardik Pandya was dismissed in controversial circumstances. He was adjudged bowled by the TV umpire, despite replays suggesting that the ball had passed over the stumps, and the bail had been pushed out by wicketkeeper Latham’s gloves.
Kishan may or may not walk away with a sanction for the needless appeal, but few would disagree that he went too far with the joke.
