Australia skipper Tim Paine was at the centre of the action on the second morning of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Paine took a pair of catches off the bowling off Pat Cummins – the second of which was dubbed a ‘screamer’ by Shane Warne on commentary – to dismiss Shubman Gill and Cheteshwar Pujara. Earlier in the morning, he also spilt a tough chance from a Gill inside edge.
At the very start of the day, Paine thought that his side had an immediate breakthrough. Cummins beat Pujara with a beautiful delivery just outside the right-hander’s off-stump and the Australian captain, despite little enthusiasm from his teammates, was convinced that Cummins had induced an edge.
Paine asked for a review and though Hotspot showed no mark on the bat, Ultra Edge suggested the faintest of noises as the ball passed the bat. As the replay was shown on the big screen, Cameron Green in particular looked excited. But Hotspot indicated that Pujara’s bat flicked the pad as the ball passed him.
⁉⁉ #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/XcPaPn2tO6
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 26, 2020
Third umpire Paul Wilson opted to stay with the on-field decision, stating that there wasn’t enough evidence available to overturn it. Given the lack of conclusive evidence one or way or the other, had the on-field decision been out, it’s possible that Wilson would have upheld that, too.
An extremely lively start at the MCG!
Cummins thought he had Pujara with the first ball of day two but the third umpire wasn’t convinced there was another to give the Indian out.
The Aussies are fired up this morning 😤 pic.twitter.com/xs1CiVVGbP
— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) December 26, 2020