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.
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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.
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It’s a pitch that will behave indifferently, but is it a pitch that could seriously injure a batsman?
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