An lbw appeal against Kieron Pollard during the third and final T20I between India and West Indies was not given even after India decided to go for a review with DRS showing that the West Indies captain was struck outside the line of off stump. However, after a closer inspection of the replays, doubts remained as to whether Pollard had played at the ball or not.
This incident occurred in the eighth over of the West Indies innings. A Ravi Bishnoi googly struck Pollard on his front pad following which the young leg-spinner launched into an impassioned appeal. The umpire decided that it was not out.
India skipper Rohit Sharma was convinced by his teammates to go for a review. When the third umpire checked the delivery he found that the ball had hit Pollard’s pad outside the off stump. The decision remained not out.
Yet it wasn’t completely clear if the West Indies batter was actually playing at the ball, with Harsha Bhogle on commentary speculating as to whether or not a genuine attempt to hit the ball had been made. Replays showed that there was a significant distance between the bat and the ball.
ESPNcricinfo‘s ball-by-ball commentary also speculated as to whether the India team thought that Pollard was offering a shot or not.
“The Indians might have thought Pollard was not playing a shot, so impact won’t matter. For what it’s worth, he did seem like he was playing a shot, though not a very good one.”
Had Pollard been adjudged not to have played a shot, the fact that the ball struck him outside the off stump would have mattered little as the predicted ball trajectory would have been the sole judge of Pollard’s fate.
Anyhow the batter survived the call, but it was to have little impact because he lost his wicket in the very next over. India went on the win the game by 17 runs.
