Team India batsman Suryakumar Yadav's scintillating knock of 57 runs came to a tame end as a piece of inconclusive evidence to the third umpire Virender Sharma meant he had to go with the on-field call, which was out. But this was just the first instance as the soft signal resulted in taking two wickets of the Indian team in the fourth T20I against England.
Surya, who was playing his first innings in international cricket had played a blazing knock until that point as after going for a six against Sam Curran through his trademark lap shot over fine-leg, he attempted another one but was caught by the fielder Dawid Malan. While Malan was pretty confident, the umpires wanted to confirm the same, but before sending it upstairs, the on-field umpire Anantapadmanabhan gave a soft signal as out.
In the TV replays, the ball could be seen grassed as after grabbing the ball, the fielder's hands spread out and there was a gap between the fingers of both the hands. But, the TV umpire found the evidence inconclusive and had to go with the on-field call. The team dugout and skipper Virat Kohli were not really happy about the same as the decision created a huge uproar.
Talking about the same after the match at the post-game presentation, Kohli said, "An incident happened during the Test series where I was next to Jinks (Ajinkya Rahane) and he clearly caught the ball. But I wasn't sure and then I asked Jinks and he wasn't sure and we went up straight away.
"When it's a half-and-half effort and the fielder's in doubt, I don't think the umpire from square-leg would see that clearly and make it a conclusive call. So soft signal becomes much more important and it's a tricky one.
"I don't know why there cannot be a... sort of... 'I don't know' call for the umpire as well. Why does it have to be a conclusive one? Because that overturns the whole decision completely, similar to the argument we have with the umpire's call as well.
"I think these things can really really change the course of the whole game, especially in a big game. We are on the other side [won the game], there could be another team bearing the brunt of this. So, you want these things ti be ironed out as much as possible to keep this game simple, keep it linear, have one set of rules, which are not gray areas.
It's not ideal in a high-pressure game, which has a lot of things riding on it, a lot at stake. It's important to have a lot of clarity on the field, the skipper added.
The soft signal is given to aid the third umpire, but in this case, it clearly drove the decision as the TV umpire didn't have sufficient evidence to overturn the decision and Surya had to walk after making a brilliant 57 off just 31 balls.
