It’s not the start India would have hoped for. Against a West Indian bowling line-up that has been impressive in their opening spells so far in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, the Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul resorted to a cautious approach and took their time to read the West Indies’ new ball bowlers, Sheldon Cottrell and Kemar Roach.

Rohit, in particular, was steady in reading Cottrell before going gung-ho. With a four and a six already in his kitty, the Mumbai batsman was beginning to open up against the quicks when he seemed to knick a full-pitched delivery from Roach into the hands of wicket-keeper Shai Hope. Though umpire Richard Illingworth didn’t see enough to rule him out, the Windies side chose to refer the decision to the third umpire. But what followed had many scratching their heads.

Michael Gough, the third umpire went on to ask Illingworth to reverse his decision even though Rohit looked to have left a gap between bat and pad as the ball sneaked through. And it was no surprise that the fans were soon up in arms against the decision.

While some questioned the law and its implementation:

Some chose to vent on the social media platform:

Meanwhile, there was no dearth of humour, too:

Some even went the distance to edit third umpire Michael Gough’s Wikipedia page.

Screengrab from Wikipedia

Feature image courtesy: Twitter/ @cricketworldcup

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