In the second Zimbabwe-India T20I at the Harare Sports Club today (July 7), the on-field umpire reversed his wide call following a funny exchange with wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
During the ninth over of Zimbabwe's chase against India, Ravi Bishnoi was engaged in an intriguing (and one-sided) battle with left-handed Jonathan Campbell.
Batting on seven off 10 balls, Campbell attempted a reverse sweep off the first ball of Bishnoi’s over, only to miss it. After the Indians went up in appeal for a caught behind, the umpire didn't raise his finger, and after some deliberation, India decided against going for a review.
Campbell then missed another reverse sweep on the next ball, getting stuck on the pads. On the third ball, he went for the conventional sweep, inside-edging it onto his pads for it to lob up safely near the pitch.
After three dot balls and failed attempts of different variations of the sweep shot, Campbell went for another one, his third reverse sweep attempt in four balls. The result was the same, but not before a funny exchange between Bishnoi and the umpire.
Abhishek Sharma has announced his arrival with a brilliant hundred against Zimbabwe🤩
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 7, 2024
Scorecard: https://t.co/ItvgIVCIJb pic.twitter.com/7r78niQXh6
Umpire sheepishly cancels wide call
The fourth ball was full, outside the left-hander's leg stump. However, by the time it reached the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel's gloves, it was extremely close to the leg stump. Campbell had also changed his grip from a left-hander's to a right-hander's to play the reverse sweep.
Nevertheless, the on-field umpire signalled a wide after some thought, leading to a reaction of outright shock among the Indian players including Bishnoi.
Upon realising that the umpire had signalled a wide, Bishnoi immediately turned around and gestured with his hands, questioning his call. It would be hard to confirm whether the umpire realised his mistake or whether he was influenced Bishnoi's gestures, but he immediately reversed his call and apologised to the bowler with a wry smile on his face, and the mood on the pitch changed from shock to amusement.
The umpire apologizing to Ravi Bishnoi and reversing the wide decision was the funniest thing I've seen in recent times 😂#INDvZIM #ZIMvsIND #INDvsZIMOnSonyLiv
— Sai (@sai_whispers) July 7, 2024
The last two balls of the over fetched two runs. Bishnoi finished his quota of four overs with figures of 2-11, following his 4-13 in the first T20I.
Earlier in the day, India had smashed a record 234-2, riding on the back of Abhishek Sharma's blistering century in just his second T20I. Zimbabwe could only muster 134 in response to lose by exactly 100 runs.
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