India captain Rohit Sharma is disappointed at the process followed by third umpire Richard Kettleborough in deciding to rule Shubman Gill out in the final innings of the WTC final on Saturday. Rohit feels the third umpire could have taken more time and looked at more angles before arriving at his decision.
"I just felt disappointed. I mean, the third umpire should have seen a little more replays, a little more of, you know, how the catch has been held," Rohit said after India's 209-run loss early on Sunday. "I think it was three or four times he saw, and he was convinced with it. It's not about whether it was given out or not out, you need to have a proper and clear information about anything. It's just not about the catch, it can be about anything."
Gill was out jabbing to gully where Cameron Green took a low catch diving to his left to end a threatening opening stand of 41 in India's chase of 444. The decision was referred upstairs, and in the absence of a soft signal, which has now been done away with, Kettleborough went through a number of replays before ruling in Australia's favour.
"That was, that is something that I was a little disappointed with - the decision was made quite quickly," Rohit said. "When a catch like that has been taken, you need to be more than 100% sure because it's a final and we were at that important stage of the game as well. So that was to me a little disappointing."
The replays on the broadcast seemed to lose a bit of action between frames, between Green catching the ball with his fingers underneath it, as he fell to the turf, and then throwing it up in celebration. The big question at the time was whether the ball touched the ground when his hand hit the turf.
"More camera angles should have been shown," Rohit went on. "There was only one or two camera angles that were shown. We've got more angles in IPL. We've got 10 different angles in IPL. I don't know why in a world event like this, there was no ultra motion that was seen or any kind of zoomed image was seen. That is what I was a little disappointed with."
Australia captain Pat Cummins, though, was more than satisfied with the process followed, and suggested that Kettleborough was the best umpire in the world, when asked his thoughts on the catch. He was also asked about Green being booed by a section of the Indian fans.
"Passionate fans," Cummins said. "But I thought it was a fair catch. Green was an absolute screamer and obviously we're just players, we're out on the field so we leave it in the umpire's hands and personally, probably the best umpire in the world, he knows the rule books, he's seen every angle. I'd probably back his decision more so than emotional, passionate fans that are looking on a big screen from 100 meters away."
Cummins in a way echoed former Australia captain Ricky Ponting's views. "When I saw it live, I knew it had carried to him on the full, but I wasn't sure what the action was after that from all replays we have seen," he told the ICC. "I actually think some part of the ball did touch the ground and it is the interpretation of the umpire that as long as the fielder has complete control of the ball before the ball hits the ground then it is out. That must have been what the umpires' interpretation was and I think that is exactly what happened. It carried probably six or eight inches off the ground then there was another action after that."