As Australia inch closer to a win in the World Test Championship final, the contentious dismissal of Shubhman Gill is hurting Indian fans even more. Chasing a mammoth 444, India were off to a brisk start with skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubhman Gill, both looking solid.
Suddenly on the first ball of the eighth over, a Scott Boland delivery took the edge of Gill’s bat and was contentiously grabbed by the lanky Cameron Green. The on-ground umpires sent the decision upstairs to the third umpire, who after a lot of replays, thought that the catch was clean and Shubhman Gill had to walk back to the pavilion.
He later showed his dissatisfaction with the decision through a social media post where it was unclear whether Green had grabbed the ball cleanly or not.
Many wondered what was the soft signal before the decision was sent upstairs. There was not any.
The soft signal was scrapped by the International Cricket Council in May this year after there was consistent outrage about it creating confusion in the mind of the third umpire while giving a close decision.Before that the norm was that the on-field umpire would either signal 'out' or 'not out' based on their gut feeling. And the third umpire was compelled to go by 'soft signal' as most of the footage proved to be inconclusive.
This new law came into effect after the England-Ireland Test match played earlier this month.
Talking about the soft signal after its scrapping, former India captain Sourav Ganguly had said: "Soft signals have been discussed at previous cricket committee meetings over the last couple of years. The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing.”
The wicket of Gill sparked outrage on not just the social media but also in the ground as Indian supporters chanted ‘cheat cheat’ after the decision.