TOI Poll results: Fans cry foul, say Virat Kohli was not out | Cricket News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The leg before dismissal of Indian captain Virat Kohli against Ajaz Patel on the first day of the second Test against New Zealand triggered a huge controversy.
Kohli was adjudged out for a duck after the third umpire upheld the call of on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary. The Indian captain had asked for a review of the lbw decision.
TV umpire Virender Sharma watched several replays, some angles of which suggested the ball could have hit the bat first, then went off the leading edge and hit the pad. Others which seemed to suggest the bat was behind the pad at the point of contact. Even the snickometer showed the clear edge.
Sharma was heard saying, “Ball and bat and pad appears to be together. I don’t have any conclusive evidence to overturn that.”
The rules of DRS state that if there is no conclusive evidence, the third umpire has to stick with the on field umpires decision. It’s the same logic as the umpires call. So, in this case if the on field umpire had given it not out, the third umpire would have also given it not out.
TimesofIndia.com ran a poll asking our readers and the fans overall to give their view on this. The five questions we asked were:
1. Virat Kohli was not out and it was clear that the ball touched his bat before hitting the pad -Yes or No
2. It was not clear in real time and on-field umpire was right in giving it out because the bat seemed to be behind the pad – Yes or No
3. The replays made it clear that Kohli was not out and the third umpire shouldn’t have said there was ‘inconclusive evidence’ – Yes or No
4. DRS rules should be changed so that the umpire’s call can be overturned. It should be a clear out or not out – Yes or No
5. Quality of umpiring in India is poor and getting worse – Yes or No
1st question (Virat Kohli was not out and it was clear that the ball touched his bat before hitting the pad -Yes or No) :
6,686 votes were polled in favour of Kohli who was thought to be not out by fans. Some replays seemed to suggest that the ball deflected off the bat onto the pads and this seemed to be the most popular reaction. 2088 votes were polled which said the Indian captain was out.

2nd question (It was not clear in real time and on-field umpire was right in giving it out because the bat seemed to be behind the pad – Yes or No):
4775 votes were polled to give the on-field umpire the benefit of doubt where voters agreed that he was right in giving Kohli out because the bat looked like it was behind the pad at the time of impact. 4000 votes meanwhile were polled to say the on field umpire had made a mistake in adjudging Kohli out.

3rd question ( The replays made it clear that Kohli was not out and the third umpire shouldn’t have said there was ‘inconclusive evidence’ – Yes or No):
6724 votes were polled by fans who thought that Kohli was not out after the replays were shown repeatedly and the third umpire shouldn’t have said there was ‘inconclusive evidence’ to overturn the on field umpire’s decision. 2051 votes were polled for the No option, siding with the third umpire, that he was well within his rights to say there was no conclusive evidence.

4th question (DRS rules should be changed so that the umpire’s call can be overturned. It should be a clear out or not out – Yes or No):
Do DRS rules need to be changed? 7383 votes polled were in favour of the rules needing tweaking. If the replays show that the on-field umpire was wrong, the third umpire should have the authority to overrule the ‘human error’ of the on-field umpire. Either way it should be a clear out or not out decision. Only 1392 votes were polled to say that the DRS rules should not be changed.

5th question (Quality of umpiring in India is poor and getting worse – Yes or No):
On the question of the quality of umpiring in India, 5596 votes that were polled agreed that it is poor and is getting worse. 3177 votes meanwhile were polled to say the opposite.

There have been multiple instances in this series of the third umpire overturning the on field umpires decision after watching replays. The big question is in an instance like that of the Virat Kohli dismissal, if there is doubt thanks to no conclusive evidence, should the benefit of doubt be given to the batsman?