Australia captain Tim Paine has conveyed disappointment over his ‘controversial’ dismissal in the recently concluded Boxing Day Test. The second innings of Australia’s batting saw third umpire Gary Wilson rule out Paine in a rather tight caught-behind decision. A decision, that would eventually have significant bearing on the match; as Australia suffered a batting collapse and gave their Indian visitors an easy fourth-innings target to chase. Which India did quite comfortably, winning the game by 8-wickets in the process.
On day 3, during the 48th over of the second innings, it looked like Paine had nicked a Ravindra Jadeja delivery to the ‘keeper’s gloves. But the straight umpire on-field wasn’t quite sure if there was an edge, and ruled Paine not-out. In response, the Indian team immediately went up for a review.
Tim Paine’s dismissal: Nothing on Hotspot, spike on Snicko
The on-screen replays showed no conclusive evidence on the hotspot, but there was a distinct spike visible on the Real-time Snicko sound indicator. The officials decided to give the bowling team the benefit of doubt, ergo ruling Paine out on the big screen. The Australia captain walked back making just 1 run off 9 deliveries, leaving the hosts staggering at 99/6.
The 36-year-old ‘keeper-batsman clearly had issues with the contentious manner of his dismissal. While speaking to reporters in the post-match conference, Paine even alluded to how India’s Cheteshwar Pujara had seen the ruling go to his favor in similar circumstances just the day before.
”I thought we had a pretty similar example in the first innings with Pujara on … day two which set some precedents. And then you could see the change,” an unimpressed Tim Paine told the reporters.
“Very frustrating way to get out; cost us 50-100 runs”- Tim Paine
”Extremely frustrating, no doubt about that. Crucial part of the game. I felt like I’ve been playing pretty well since the start of this series. And I thought if I could get in a partnership with (Cameron) Green; add another 50, 100, 120 runs together then the whole game changes. To have it finish like that was extremely disappointing,” he added.
Paine also revealed that he had had a discussion with the match-officials on the matter, but didn’t get any satisfactory reply from them. “I’ve spoken to them, it wasn’t very productive. My concern yesterday was not with the technology, it was with the precedents set with Pujara and the fact the (Paine) decision was made too quickly.
“He (Wilson) didn’t look at enough replays to see all evidence. There was probably a gap between bat and ball. It was just lots of things that didn’t marry up for me,” Paine concluded.
There is a definite, clarity-based issue here that needs addressing from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Paine’s point about the incident having precedence dates back to as early as November, when the two teams competed in a 3-match ODI series. In the 3rd ODI, the umpires ruled India captain Virat Kohli out caught-behind under similarly conflicting scenarios. Considering the ambiguity surrounding such a form of dismissal, it’s high time the ICC formulates a consistent ruling on this aspect of the DRS.