India waste review on first ball

India lost their only review as early as the first ball against New Zealand in a World Cup semifinal Old Trafford on Tuesday.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to bat first under overcast conditions at Manchester and India’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar almost made the full use of those conditions by removing Martin Gutpill off the very first ball.

Kumar, who was preferred over Mohammed Shami largely because of the overhead conditions and chances of rain, got the ball to come back in ever so slightly to evade the forward defensive push of Martin Guptill.

The ball thudded onto Guptill’s front pad and the close-in Indian fielders and the capacity crowd at Old Trafford went up in appeal.

Umpire Richard Kettleborough, however, shook his head.

Despite Dhoni looking not-so-confident about taking a review, an overenthusiastic Bhuvaneshwar managed to convince his captain, and with just seconds remaining on the review clock, Virat Kohli decided to go for the review after a fairly long discussion.

The replays, however, did not bring good news to India. The hawk-eye showed the ball would have missed the leg stump and India lost their only DRS on the very first ball.

Virat Kohli was left with a sheepish look on his face, which he did his best to cover up, after using India’s only review with the game’s first ball. PHOTO: AFP

At the very first instance, the decision looked quite correct and by no chance did it look like getting overturned.

The replays suggested the ball would have missed the leg stump by a mile and India’s tactical blunder cost them a precious review.

With two spinners in the side, the DRS would have come in handy as the innings progressed but, in a rush of blood, perhaps, India lost it on the very first ball of the semifinal.

There was a lot of mockery on social media around the decision to review, especially in light of the fact that the decision did not seem likely to be overturned.

However, when the game was halted due to rain in the 46th over, it did not seem that India had lost much.

On the othand, Ross Taylor showed how vital a review can be in such a tense game. He was adjuged leg before wicket in the 44th over when he was batting on 56 and the Kiwi reviewed to overturn that decision.