Decisions made unusually quickly: Root and Silverwood speak to match referee over third umpire calls - Report

The England cricket team are not happy with the TV umpire after two controversial decisions in the third Test match against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. It has been reported that England captain Joe Root and coach Chris Silverwood have approached ICC match referee Javagal Srinath after the end of day’s play on Wednesday over the issue.

The report on ESPNCricinfo states that Root and Silverwood were unhappy with two decisions that were sent to the TV umpire and ended up going India’s way. They say that the decisions were made ‘unusually quickly’.

"The England captain and head coach spoke with the match referee after play," an England team spokesperson said in the report.

"The captain and head coach acknowledged the challenges the umpires faced and asked respectfully that in making any decisions there was consistency in the process. The match referee said the captain was asking the right questions of the umpires."

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Several England players also expressed their displeasure while they were on the field. It all transpired in the second over India’s first innings in the day-night pink ball Test when Stuart Broad found the outside edge of Shubman Gill’s bat. Ben Stokes, who was standing at second slip, claimed the catch as England players started to celebrate.

The on-field umpires got together and decided to send it upstairs with the soft signal – ‘out’, meaning that the third umpire would require conclusive evidence to overturn the decision.

As it turned out, the third umpire made a quick decision just after looking at one angle and decided that Stokes did not have anything beneath the ball.

Gill was adjudged not out which left Stokes bemused. The England all-rounder also started shaking his head with a smirk on his face. Further replays, later on, did confirm that the third umpire made the correct call as it appeared that the ball had touched the ground while Stokes was picking it up.

Another instance was of Rohit Sharma when TV umpire C Shamshuddin gave the batsman not out on a stumping appeal made by England. England team management say that the decision was made very quickly and assistance of camera angles were not taken.

England batsman Zak Crawley talked about the decision as he said that it is frustrating that the umpire is not 'checking more thoroughly'.

"It's very frustrating," Crawley, whose fluent 53 was the highest score in England's first innings total of 112, told a video news conference.

"We’re behind the game and we need those little 50-50s to go our way. It seemed like none of them went our way today," he said.

"When we batted Jack had one where it didn’t quite carry and it seemed like they looked at it from five or six different angles. When we were fielding it seemed like they looked at it from one angle. That’s where the frustrations lie.

"I can't say whether they were out or not out, but I think the frustrations lie with not checking more thoroughly."