Ollie Pope was given out after India opted to review an lbw shout against him in the final session of day two at Rajkot, generating significant reaction over the accuracy of the technology.
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England were motoring along in response to India’s first innings score of 445, mostly thanks to Ben Duckett’s 88-ball century. Pope came to the crease after Zak Crawley was out attempting to sweep R Ashwin, becoming the spinner’s 500th Test wicket. Continuing the momentum, with England’s run rate nearly at six an over, Pope picked up his first boundary with a six down the ground before hitting a four off Jasprit Bumrah.
However, as the partnership neared a century and started to look ominous for India, Pope was struck on the pad by Mohammed Siraj. The ball angled in, looked close to be going down the leg side, and also hit Pope above the knee roll, so umpire Joel Wilson was unmoved by a big appeal from Siraj and the India fielders.
Shubman Gill also threw the ball at the stumps during the appeal, with Pope out of his ground. However, he missed his mark and the ball went for four overthrows.
After discussion, Rohit Sharma opted to review the decision with replays showing the ball had hit Pope high on the flap of his front pad. Although it looked high on impact, ball-tracking showed that the ball would have gone on to hit enough of leg stump to be deemed fully hitting, and three reds meant Pope had to head back to the dressing room.
The overturned decision led some to question whether the technology was reliable enough, given that the ball didn’t appear to be hitting the stumps enough to overturn on first look.
Looks high to me for 3 reds! ❌ https://t.co/0lCQ5k3ROK
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) February 16, 2024
Is DRS on the blink in this series??
— Paul Newman (@Paul_NewmanDM) February 16, 2024
DRS works differently in India! pic.twitter.com/EO7srZkYUD
— Basit Subhani (@BasitSubhani) February 16, 2024
Will be intrigued to hear Ben Stokes’s view on DRS there…
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) February 16, 2024
Pope was out for 39 off 55 balls, leaving England 177-2. Duckett survived a review in the final over of the day which showed a ball from Ashwin to be pitching outside the line of leg stump. England went into the close of play on 207-2 with Duckett unbeaten on 133.
