‘In the heat of the moment…’: Cameron Green nearly agrees Shubman Gill catch in IND vs AUS WTC final was illegal?
Green was the only person to give the most accurate take on the catch but in reply to reporters in the presser, the Aussie kept the burning question alive.
It was a controversy-marred Day 4 of the World Test Championship final between India and Australia at The Oval with debate raging over that catch from Cameron Green that led to the dismissal of opener Shubman Gill. Cricket experts remained divided over the catch and so was social media while the larger segment of crowd that the venue that supported the Indian side broke into "Cheater" chants. Gill too later responded to the dismissal with an internet-breaking post moments after the end of Day 4 while the Aussie all-rounder had his say in the post-match conference.
The dismissal took place in the eighth over of India's chase of 444 when Gill tried to negotiate the length ball from Scott Boland. The ball took a thick outside edge and went straight to Green at gully who completed the catch with a dive on his left. But Gill did not move and the umpires immediately went upstairs to check the legitimacy of the catch as visuals showed that part of the ball was touching the ground. TV umpire Richard Kettleborough however inferred that Gill was indeed out thus breaking a massive debate in world cricket.
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While its natural for Gill and all Indian fans to disagree with the decision, Green was probably the only person to give the most accurate take on the catch but in reply to reporters at the end-of-day media conference, the Aussie kept the burning question alive.
"At the time I definitely thought I caught it," Green said. "I think in the heat of the moment, I thought it was clean and threw it up and obviously showed no sign of any doubt. And then it's left up to the third umpire (Kettleborough) and he agreed."
Gill was dismissed for just 18 runs at the stroke of Tea. In the final session, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara showed intent but while the former was dismissed by Nathan Lyon the latter departed after playing an uncharacteristic shot. Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli then revived India with a valiant 71-run stand as India reached 164/3 at stumps, still trailing by 280 with one day remaining.
