Saud Shakeel was denied a century on Monday in controversial circumstances during the fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and England in Multan and his dismissal has sparked a fresh round of discussions over soft signals. Shakeel was batting on 94 off 213 balls when he nicked a ball behind to England wicketkeeper Ollie Pope off fast bowler Mark Wood.
Pope had taken the catch low diving towards his left after Shakeel could not connect properly with his pull shot. England appealed and the two on-field umpires came together for a discussion before sending it to the third umpire with a soft signal of out. The third umpire took his time with it and it looked like the ball had touched the grass while Pope caught it. However, it was deemed that there was not enough evidence to overturn the soft signal and it was upheld.
Commentator and former England captain Mike Atherton did say that the ball was touching the grass. "You could argue that the gloves were on the ball, not necessarily under the ball. And a bit of the ball was touching the grass," he said. A number of fans and fellow cricketers, including India's Dinesh Karthik, expressed their displeasure at the decision.
{{/usCountry}}Commentator and former England captain Mike Atherton did say that the ball was touching the grass. "You could argue that the gloves were on the ball, not necessarily under the ball. And a bit of the ball was touching the grass," he said. A number of fans and fellow cricketers, including India's Dinesh Karthik, expressed their displeasure at the decision.
{{/usCountry}}Shakeel's innings gave Pakistan a fighting chance at chasing down the target of 355 that England had set for them. The score was 291/7 when he fell and even after that Pakistan managed to get closer to make for a dramatic end to the Test. Agha Salman and Abrar Ahmad managed to put 19 runs eighth wicket but it turned out to be too much for the Pakistan tail to chase. The ended up falling 26 runs. England had won the first Test as well and it now means that they have won the three-match series. The third Test will be played from December 17 in Karachi.