On a day that presented cricket fans with so much quality and competitiveness, it was a shame that the umpires had to force the players off the field, due to the ‘apparent’ demons in the pitch.
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With the balls rising up from a length, and hitting the batsmen on the gloves(and the helmets), the umpires were in discussion all through the day, regarding balls that jumped up more than expected.
And while everyone felt that the pitch was a difficult one for the batsmen to play on, not many deemed it ‘snarling’ enough for play to be called off.
Also, what made Indian fans rage on social media was the timing of the umpires calling play off, as the ball that hit Elgar on the helmet, was actually a short one; a well directed bouncer from Bumrah that rose more than expected due to the effort put into it.
Through the course of the day, the Indians braved several balls on their gloves and bodies, putting up a strong resolve against the boisterous South African bowling attack.
The Indians were bombarded with quite a lot of short stuff, but the Indian team management decided to play on, and not create a lot of fuss about it.
Twitterati felt that Dean Elgar did not get into a good position to play that short ball, and the umpires should have consulted video review in order to see where the ball had pitched.
With the umpires calling play off, Virat Kohli was particularly very animated and very frustrated, as his batsman fought it out in the middle, and a few balls hitting the bodies of the South Africans shouldn’t have made the umpires take the players off.
It’s a pitch that will behave indifferently, but is it a pitch that could seriously injure a batsman?
Check out the best tweets:
So what’s the difference of this pitch than earlier today? Sunny G is right. If the umpires were going to call it off, then it should have been done earlier…. but India battled through it. Now SA should have to do the same.. sadly Elgar didn’t play it well.
— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) January 26, 2018
You can’t cancel a match because a ball “bounced more than Dean Elgar expected it to”. Then we will have to cancel every match Shikhar Dhawan plays.
— Alagappan V (@IndianMourinho) January 26, 2018
Truth is, Dean Elgar is terrible on his backfoot. Even Bhuvneshwar Kumar has a better technique than him. #SAvInd
— SAGAR (@sagarcasm) January 26, 2018
If the match is stopped because of that ball, it would be ridiculous… That was pitched really short it’s not like a full ball jagged up suddenly.. the demons look like they’re in the Elgar’s mind more than the pitch
— achettup (@TestingRhymes) January 26, 2018
Bumrah’s ball pitched eight and a half metres from base of stumps. Elgar got into a tangle. Not a delivery to call off the Test. And don’t forget umps allowed India to bat a second time. Carry on.
— Patrick Compton (@compocric) January 26, 2018
Others looking for IPL career, Elgar looking for bollywood career #SAvIND
— Iyeronical (@LosingMotion) January 26, 2018
Match should have called off in the first couple of sessions. Not after Faf decided to target tailenders with bouncers, the entire Indian batting lineup had to go through that & now Elgar is just atrociously bad at playing the short ball. India will be right to feel aggrieved.
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) January 26, 2018
South Africans to umpires when Indians were getting hit
South Africans to umpires when they themselves were getting hit pic.twitter.com/HuwaossMNA
— Aakash (@PUNchayati) January 26, 2018
Elgar gets hit. No sympathy for any of them sorry. You got this prepared, face the music.
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) January 26, 2018
South African journalists of the opinion that it “WAS a short ball” and Elgar couldn’t play it properly. #SAvInd
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) January 26, 2018
Unacceptable. That was a short ball not even good length. That was all down to Elgar’s technique. C’mon Ishant & Bumrah were batting on this 40 mins back.
— C.S.Amudhan (@csamudhan) January 26, 2018
Calling off this test has to be the 2nd most disgusting thing done by South Africans to Indians after throwing Gandhiji out of a train.#SAvIND
— Desi Gooner (@Sahil_Adhikaari) January 26, 2018
Indian batters get hit: they don’t know too play the short ball, nothing wrong with the wicket.
SA batters get hit: OMFG the pitch is a minefield, let’s call the whole thing off!
(Elgar played that short ball about as well as a fish would climb a tree.)
— Still Me, I’m Afraid (@sumants) January 26, 2018
