Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel has not only missed out on a maiden Test century but also on a golden opportunity of powering his team to a record-breaking run-chase on the fourth day of the ongoing second Test match against England at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
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Resuming from his overnight score of 54*, Shakeel battled hard to preserve one end for most part of the morning session before getting involved in a debatable dismissal right before the lunch break.
Third Pakistani batter to be dismissed in the first session, Shakeel’s dismissal has exposed their bowlers with 64 runs still needed to be scored to win the match. Shakeel, who scored a third Test half-century in his fourth innings, returned dejected to the pavilion after scoring 94 (213) with the help of eight fours.
Was Saud Shakeel out?
It all happened in the last over before the lunch interval when Shakeel gloved a Mark Wood delivery to England wicket-keeper Ollie Pope whilst wanting to pull the ball. Not in the best of positions to play the shot, Shakeel might be thinking of having left the ball in the hindsight.
Pope, who seemed to have grabbed a clean catch at first, was supported by umpire Aleem Dar’s on-field decision. That being said, replays put forward a mammoth doubt with respect to the ball touching the ground right after landing in Pope’a hands.
The replays, however, didn’t provide any conclusive evidence according to third umpire Joel Wilson as he chose to not overturn Dar’s decision. As a result, Wilson decided to to give validation to Dar in spite of having some doubts in his mind. “Looks like the gloves are under it. But I can’t tell exactly,” Wilson was heard speaking to the television producer.
It is not the first time that the Soft Signal rule in cricket has come under the scanner. Had the rule not been there, Shakeel might have survived as the ball did appear to be touching the ground slightly.
Having said that, Wilson, who has officiated in over 200 men’s international matches, would have been well within his rights to overturn the decision without caring about the soft signal due to a slight amendment made to the rule last year. With both the match and series on the line for the hosts, ramifications of this decision will be interesting to see in the next session.
