Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar was savaged on social media by cricket fans after claiming that the deflection was nothing but "optical illusion" in Yashasvi Jaiswal's controversial dismissal on the final evening of the fourth Test between India and Australia in Melbourne. The dismissal helped Australia secure a second victory in the series as they took a 2-1 lead with a final match yet to be played in Sydney.
Jaiswal single-handedly led India's chase of 340 against Australia. Having scored a second successive fifty in the march, Jaiswal looked set for a hundred and was India's only hope to escape a defeat with a draw, thus forcing a fitting finale to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series later this week. However, Pat Cummins dismissed Jaiswal for 84, which sparked controversy.
On-field umpire Joel Wilson was not convinced when Jaiswal gloved the shorter delivery from Cummins behind to the wicketkeeper. The Australia captain quickly referred it upstairs. Although there was no spike on the snicko, the third umpire went with visual evidence to claim that there was a deflection caused by the glove and hence asked Wilson to overturn his call.
Sunil Gavaskar savaged for bizarre claim
Despite broadcasters further showing that there was a deviation from the original path of the delivery using ball-tracker, Gavaskar, speaking in commentary for Channel 7, reckoned the deflection could have been an "optical illusion". He said: "If the evidence of the technology is not to be taken, why have it at all? That is something that would definitely be the query as far as the Indians are concerned.
{{/usCountry}}Despite broadcasters further showing that there was a deviation from the original path of the delivery using ball-tracker, Gavaskar, speaking in commentary for Channel 7, reckoned the deflection could have been an "optical illusion". He said: "If the evidence of the technology is not to be taken, why have it at all? That is something that would definitely be the query as far as the Indians are concerned.
{{/usCountry}}"Yes it looked like it might have gone off the glove, but that can be an optical illusion. Often we see with a ball that is brand-new, that it goes past the outside edge and moves away (due to swing). And the optical illusion is that it has taken a nick."
Following the statement, the India batting legend was shown no mercy by fans on social media as they labelled the comment as "pathetic" and "embarrassing".
Following the controversial dismissal, Warren Brennan, whose company BBG sports operates Snicko, explained why there was no spike despite a clear sign of deflection.
“That was one of the glance-shots where there isn’t any noise so Snicko shows nothing only ambient noise,” Brennan told Code Sports. “I checked with the audio director and he said there was no noise either. Probably only Hot Spot could have resolved that one.”