It was a difficult morning session for India on the second day of the pink ball Test at the Adelaide Oval. Despite star pacer Jasprit Bumrah getting rid of Steve Smith and Nathan McSweeney, and Nitish Kumar Reddy dismissing the dangerous-looking Marnus Labuschagne, runs flowed quickly for Australia. Labuschagne did the bulk of the damage and was later joined by Travis Head who made a quick half-century to ensure Australia’s lead.

However, what could have been a moment of respite for India just before lunch, turned into a moment of controversy. Ravichandran Ashwin got one to hit Mitchell Marsh on the pads but the umpire didn’t raise his finger, forcing the visitors to take a review.

Third umpire Richard Kettleborough turned down the review after determining that there was no conclusive evidence on the DRS replays to determine whether the ball had hit the bat first or the pad.

Hayden: How do we get better images after the decision has been made?

Just after the TV umpire made his decision and play resumed, a better front-on angle of the clip emerged which showed that the ball might have struck the pad first. “That’s clearly pad first,” said Mark Nicholas on commentary. Hayden also seemed perplexed by the lack of better images made available to the third umpire while the decision was being made: "How do we get better images after the decision has been made?"

In the production replay, ball-tracking also showed that the ball would’ve gone on to hit the stumps but the impact rested on the umpire’s call.

Even if it was pad first, it would have stayed with the umpire's not out call pic.twitter.com/jQH5EaIUcD

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 7, 2024

Initially, India seemed to have lost their review based on what the score graphics suggested. However, it seemed to have been restored later.

This is not the first time that the use of technology has been questioned in this series. In the first Test in Perth, KL Rahul was in a similar situation where the replays couldn’t conclusively determine whether the ball had hit his bat first or pad. However, soon after the decision, better replays had emerged leading to a similar reaction among the viewers as Hayden's today.

Eventually, Marsh was dismissed caught behind by Ashwin for a score of nine, with the Australian all-rounder deciding to walk despite not having edged the ball.