Advertisement

'You'd be ropeable': Cricket world divided over 'brave' call

The cricket world is divided over the third umpires decision to give Aussie captain Aaron Finch out stumped after replays failed to definitively show whether the opener had made it back to his crease or not.

In Australia’s tight loss to India, Finch was given out by third umpire Michael Gough on 33, after more than two minutes of deliberation on what the official labelled a "very tight" decision.

'THEY’RE NOT AWARE OF IT’: Virat Kohli called out over controversial act

Some replays appeared to show Finch had a small portion of his boot behind the line, while there were other questions over when the bail was fully removed.

“That’s a brave call from the umpire,” the commentator said.

Aaron Finch playing and missing a shot is stumped.
Aaron Finch was given out stumped by the third umpire after a tight decision. (Image: Fox Sports)

“It’s a marginal call and the benefit of the doubt should always go to the batsman,” another commentator said.

Social media also debated the decision.

One commentator added: “I think you would be ropeable.”

Finch thought he was out

Despite the debate, Finch admitted to batting partner Steve Smith that his controversial stumping dismissal was the right decision by the third umpire in Australia's 36-run loss to India.

"He thought he was out," Smith admitted.

"I don't really know, I saw what I could see on the screen and it looked pretty close.

"It was one of those ones that was pretty close, the umpire made the decision and we ran with it."

Indian wicketkeeper KL Rahul was also confident the right decision had been made.

"It looked pretty out to me," Rahul said.

'ABSOLUTE JOKE’: Aussies docked five runs in 'ridiculous' Warner controversy

'ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS': India rocked by sad news ahead of Australia clash

"The minute we went up you could tell Finchy knew that he was out."

Meanwhile there was further drama in the 23rd over when Rohit Sharma appeared to fake field a ball, pretending to throw it in without it in his hands.

Under rules passed in 2017, players cannot deliberately distract, deceive or obstruct a batsman, or else risk a five-run penalty.

Marnus Labuschagne, who was the first player to be penalised for fake fielding in December 2017, and attempted to point out Rohit's actions to the on-field umpires.

However no penalty was forthcoming, while it realistically would have mattered little given the end result.