The hawk-eye technology freakishly betrayed common sense during the 1st T20I between AUS and WI after Mitchell Starc and Finch took a DRS to send a potential LBW against Nicholas Pooran upstairs.
Left-arm pacer Starc had trapped Pooran on his front pad with a menacing yorker; one over which the Caribbean skipper almost fell over.
Hawk-eye betrays Pooran, elates Mitchell Starc
To the naked eye, the ball looked to be pitching on leg-stump and going down with a sharp angle. On-air commentators and former Australian cricketers Steve Waugh and Brad Haddin opined the same.
Moreover, even the bowler (Starc) himself had little to no real belief of the on-field call getting overturned.
Nonetheless, the ball-tracking technology (also called hawk-eye) left one and all bemused.
The trajectory, interestingly, showed the ball be straightening after pitching on leg-stump to end up between middle and leg –something physically impossible.
The on-field call was overturned and Kangaroo pacer Mitchell Starc– who had tred back to his bowling mark appeared elated at the hawk-eye magic.
— Cricket fan (@Cricketfan093) October 6, 2022
However, Pooran wasn’t pleased with all and kept shaking his head on his way back to the dugout.
Batting first, the West Indies had put 145 on the board thanks to Kyle Mayers (39) and Odean Smith (27 off 11).
For the hosts, Matt Wade continued his hot streak to strike 39*(29) while skipper Aaron Finch grafted a 56-ball-58 to chase the tricky total with just 1 ball to spare.
Pooran’s wicket triggered a batting collapse which saw West Indies crumble from 75 for 3 to 106 for seven. Thus, it can be said that the hawk-eye howler off the aforementioned Mitchell Starc yorker played a significant role in WI losing the close game.
Speaking about the DRS outcome after the game, Starc admitted that he at best expected it to be Umpire’s call after seeing the replay on the big screen.
The 2nd and final T20I between the sides is scheduled for October 7 at the Gabba, Brisbane.