During the second ODI of the three-match series, in Indore, Sean Abbott took an excellent catch, but Shreyas Iyer was ruled not out.
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Earlier this month, Iyer returned to the India ODI side after an eight-month injury layoff. Upon his comeback, he made a nine-ball 14 before hitting a ball straight to mid-wicket with no one close on either side, got injured again, and missed the rest of the Asia Cup.
Returning for the Australia series, Iyer was run out for three in the first match. While his record (an average exceeding 45, a strike rate close to 100) bore testimony to his ability, he perhaps needed that one major innings ahead of that World Cup to secure his place.
That came during the second ODI against Australia, in Indore. Coming in to bat at 16-1 in the fourth over, Iyer took charge, smashing six fours off the first 16 balls he faced to blaze away to 31.
He raced past Shubman Gill, and took 41 balls to bring up his first fifty and another 45 for his second: it was Iyer’s third ODI hundred and the first since his unbeaten 113 in October 2022.
Shortly afterwards, Sean Abbott pitched a ball up to Iyer, who tried to defend it but was unable to keep it down. Abbott saw the ball pop up to his right and dived in front of Gill to take what seemed like an excellent catch. The TV coverage cut to an ad break as Iyer began to walk off.
However, the umpires, Jayaraman Madanagopal and Kumar Dharmasena, referred it to television umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan. After watching multiple replays, Ananthapadmanabhan concluded that the ball had touched the ground before Abbott had been in full control, as per Law 33.3: “The act of making a catch shall start from the time when the ball first comes into contact with a fielder’s person and shall end when a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his/her own movement.”
On air, Murali Kartik called it “a Mitchell Starc moment”, referring to an incident from this summer’s Ashes, where Ben Duckett survived a similar ‘catch’ taken by Starc.
Iyer hit the next ball for four, but Abbott had his revenge with the ball after that, which Iyer slogged straight to deep mid-wicket. His 90-ball 105 included 11 fours and three sixes.
At the time of writing, India were 296-3 in 39.5 overs.
