Controversy broke out at lunch break in Day 2 of India’s second Test against South Africa after Rassie van der Dussen was caught out by Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant in what has been deemed to be a questionable decision.
In the final ball of the first session, Pant took what appeared to be an incredible catch, but replays suggested that the ball had hit the ground first and that Pant had grabbed the ball off the grass. However, the decision to rule van der Dussen out was not reversed as it was deemed that there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision.
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Understandably, the decision sparked controversy and commentators Mike Haysman and Sunil Gavaskar discussed the decision at length. The legendary former Indian cricketer even cracked a joke about van der Dussen’s decision to walk back to the pavilion, saying, “He walked, nobody walks in today’s cricket. They might have fancy cars, that’s why they don’t walk. All of them have fancy cars so I don’t know why van der Dussen decided to walk. Nevertheless, I think perhaps that is an indication that from here and in slow motion it might look that it might not have gone but van der Dussen didn’t seem to have any problem with that.”
ESPNcricinfo also reported that South Africa captain Dean Elgar and manager Khomotso Masubelele met field umpires Marais Erasmus and Allahudien Palekar, third umpire Adrian Holdstock and match referee Andy Pycroft during the lunch break to discuss the decision. However, what they discussed remains unclear.
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Hours later, a few overs into India’s second innings, India interim captain KL Rahul faced a delivery from Marco Jansen, and in his attempts to push it away from the body, produced a catch that was taken by Aiden Markram in a manner similar to van der Dussen’s dismissal. The soft decision was given out, and a review by third umpire suggested that there was no conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire’s decision.
At the time of writing, India stood at 85/2 and have a lead of 58 runs over the hosts, South Africa.