'15 years ago, we had the same problems': Ex-SA captain, India WK debate Pant's controversial catch of Van Der Dussen
Rishabh Pant's catch to dismiss Rassie van der Dussen on Day 2 of the Johannesburg Test ignited controversy.
The dismissal of Rassie van der Dussen had been a point of contention during Day 2 of the second Test between South Africa and India in Johannesburg. The batter had been adjudged caught behind off the bowling of Shardul Thakur with on-field umpire Marais Erasmus raising his finger almost instantly. The Proteas batter did not ask for a review. However, replays cast doubts on whether the ball had carried to India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant or not.
The wicket also marked the end of the first session and the South Africans had a brief chat with umpires during lunch but the decision eventually stayed. In a perplexing series of replays that followed the lunch break in the second session, it seemed the ball had fallen marginally short of Rishabh Pant's gloves while he lunged forward for the catch. The replays triggered debate over the catch in the commentary box and on social media, and former cricketer Shaun Pollock and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also debated over the incident.
Pollock said that the bulkiness of the gloves may sometimes not allow the wicketkeepers to realise if that the catch is clean, to which Karthik agreed.
“There was one where Rassie van der Dussen reviewed and it seemed to bounce short. There was another catch which was quite contentious and there was bit of discussion in the lunch break, South African camp went to ask if it had carried. It is funny enough that for wicketkeepers in particular with the gloves they've got and often for fielders, when you take the ball coming forward, you think you'd be able to see it and whether it has or hasn't carried but it's not that easy, is it? The odd times where even as a wicketkeeper, with the bulkiness of the gloves, you're sure whether it has carried or not,” Pollock said on Cricbuzz.
Karthik, in turn, pointed out that since the head is far away from the hands when the keeper is diving forward for the catch, it becomes difficult to know if the ball had actually fallen short.
“Absolutely. The way you do, the way you get the head away, it's hard to see the ball and because you have the glove which obviously has a lot of leather that protects you from the hits, what it does is that the impact on the ground is not seen,” Karthik said.
“You're not sure whether it comes straight at your gloves or just bounced. This happens a lot to slip fielders, and to fielders at any point. You just take it on the bounce and you are not sure and that's where you have your cameras and angles and in spite of all the HD technology, it gets really hard. So you have to go with the thumb rule for what the fielder says and on top of that, you have two umpires standing in the ground and getting a good view of what's happening and trust them. Because 15 years ago, we had the same problem, we had slightly lesser cameras, today the cameras have gotten better, there are far more cameras inspite of that we are not able to nail the decision.”
However, the Indian wicketkeeper-batter also insisted that South Africa captain Dean Elgar was right at his place to have a conversation with the umpires over the decision.
“If there's inconclusive evidence, you have to understand that you have to go with the umpires and the keeper as well. So I think the decision was well taken. I completely understand where Dean Elgar was coming from, obviously, it had a nick that probably bounced in front of the keeper. When it comes to Rassie van der Dussen, it wasn't obvious. As a keeper, you try your best to be honest about it but most of the times, you do miss it because of the protection on the gloves and you don't see it because your head goes back,” said Karthik.