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‘Absolute waste of time. Get rid of it’: Stokes, Harbhajan fume after controversial umpiring decision in AUS vs SA
This is not the first time Stokes has suggested ICC to get rid of soft signal. He had echoed similar views last year following England's defeat against South Africa in a T20I.
The third and final Test between Australia and South Africa in Sydney saw a fresh controversy on the opening day as the tourists were left stunned with a decision made by the third-umpire. Marnus Labuschagne was the batter involved as he was caught by Simon Harmer at first slip off Marco Jansen's bowling, which .
On-field umpire Paul Reiffel had soft signaled it out, before sending it upstairs for a final decision. After much deliberation TV umpire Richard Kettlebrough overturned Reiffel's decision and asked Labuschange to continue batting.
Labuschange was later dismissed on 79 by Anrich Nortje, but the not-out decision by Kettlebrough drew plenty of eyeballs from both fans and experts. England's premier-allrounder and red-ball captain Ben Stokes was one of the many, who suggested ICC to get rid of the soft signal entirely and his views was backed by former India spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Sharing a video of the controversial not-out decision on Twitter, Stokes wrote: "ICC should get rid of the soft signal and let the 3rd umpire who has all the technology to make the decision when the on field umpires send it upstairs, all the controversy is always around the soft signal given. This isn’t a comment on the decision FYI."
Harbhajan Singh was one of the many respondents, who called soft signals as absolute waste of time. “Absolutely waste of time (soft signals) what is the point giving a soft signal when you are referring it to the 3rd umpire anyways .. let the 3rd umpire give decision,” the ex-cricketer tweeted.
This is not the first time Stokes has suggested ICC to get rid of soft signal. He had echoed similar views last year following England's defeat against South Africa in a T20I.
Coming back to the Test, Australia, who won the toss and opted to bat, finished the day at 147/2 at stumps as bad light brought an halt to the match barely halfway through the day.
