India star batter Virat Kohli was provided with a massive lifeline on the first day of the Sydney Test. After choosing to bat first, India didn’t have a good start at all as KL Rahul was sent back to the dugout in the fifth over before Yashasvi Jaiswal got dismissed 2 overs later leaving the visitors on 17/2.
After their dismissals, Kohli joined hands with Shubman Gill, where he survived a close call on the very first delivery that he faced. Australia pacer Scott Boland almost dismissed Kohli when the batter ended up edging the delivery towards the slips. Steve Smith, who was standing on second slip, grabbed the ball and tossed it upwards as Marnus Labuschagne took the catch.
The Australians had already started celebrating, however the on-field umpire handed the decision over to the third umpire. It was then revealed that the ball had touched the ground before Smith was able to pass it to Labuschagne. Hence, Kohli got an important lifeline on the very first ball that he faced.
The drama did not end over here. After the completion of the over, both Kohli and Smith were seen exchanging some words.
During the lunch break, Smith opened up on the incident and stood firm on his stance, stating that he got his hands beneath the ball and hence it was a fair catch.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting also disagreed with the third umpire’s decision regarding the catch.
“As far as I was concerned, if (the ball) had’ve come out of (Smith’s) hand, he wouldn’t have been able to scoop it up. That’s what I’m saying, I think his fingers are clearly underneath the ball … look where his pointer figure is there, it’s still underneath the ball,” Ponting said
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