Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav made a roaring entry into international cricket, smashing a quick-fire half-century on his T20I debut to lift in India in the 4th T20I against England at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium.
The 30-year-old Mumbai batsman was drafted into the team as Ishan Kishan struggled with injury. SKY, as he is known amongst the faithful, started with a brilliant six of Jofra Archer's delivery and went on to wreck absolute carnage. He, in fact, got to his fifty in just 28 balls. His innings, however, came to a disappointing end in the 13th over. After hitting Sam Curran for a six in the first delivery, Suryakumar Yadav went for another big shot. This time though, he fell a little short of clearing the boundary, and as a result, Dawid Malan seemed to have gotten his fingers under the ball as he attempted a brilliant catch.
With the soft signal being out, the decision went to the third umpire. The ball appeared to have touched the ground, but with the on-field signal being out, the third umpire went with it as the TV evidence was inconclusive. The 30-year-old departed after scoring a brilliant 57 off just 31 balls, and here is how the fans are reacting to the dismissal.
Suryakumar Yadav goes for a fantastic 57 in 31 balls, the way he played just shows how brilliant he's been all this time and waited for his opportunity. A bad call by 3rd umpire, the ball was clearly grounded yet he's been given out due to soft signal.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 18, 2021
Unlucky Suryakumar Yadav poor decision by umpire onfield and 3rd umpire Hard luck SKY
— Danish Kaneria (@DanishKaneria61) March 18, 2021
What the... Suryakumar was not out..!!!!
— divyenndu (@divyenndu) March 18, 2021
Surya kumar was not out.. Terrible 3rd umpiring #IndvsENG
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI) March 18, 2021
Not out for me. Even though TV replays make these look worse, the fingers aren’t underneath in this one for me. And the ball does touch the turf before the fielder has control of it. #INDvENG
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) March 18, 2021
Great fielding effort. But not out IMO. Again, soft signal ... might pinch quite hard .. Why should the umpire have to observe a soft signal from so far out.. when it’s so tricky even for the third umpire on replays! #IndvEng
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) March 18, 2021
Was cheering for @surya_14kumar Very well played! Disappointed by umpire’s decision for declaring it out. To me it was clearly not out. We all are so proud of you Surya. @soumghoshal & you played together as kids in the same Anushaktinagar colony ground. Feeling so happy for you!
— Shreya Ghoshal (@shreyaghoshal) March 18, 2021
Unfortunately, the third umpire was with 9% of the people here https://t.co/9JBmcOxHIw
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 18, 2021
That umpire must be a really different guy, his perspective is so different from everybody else’s. He saw something different from what all of us saw. He’s a Lone Ranger. Respect sir. Respect.
— Danish Sait (@DanishSait) March 18, 2021
Third umpire while making that decision. #INDvENGt20 #suryakumar pic.twitter.com/JJp2NldcI8
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 18, 2021
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Jewel Samad