Cricket News

‘Ball is clearly missing the stumps’ – Ben Stokes’ blunt verdict on DRS after massive 434-run loss against India in third Test

On Day 4 of the third Test match England’s batting collapsed as they were bowled on 122 runs which resulted in India’s biggest win by 434 runs. In the second innings of England batting England lost opener Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley earlier. The openers were back to the pavilion in just 9 overs and 18 runs on the scoreboard.

While chasing the target England opener Zak Crawley was trapped in front of the wicket by Jasprit Bumrah as he bowled an inswinger delivery. On-field umpire Joel Wilson gave him out but he took the review and the decision was sent to the third umpire.

During the replay on the big screen, DRS showed that the ball was missing the edge of the leg stump. Meanwhile, DRS indicated to the on-field stuck with his call as Zak Crawley was given out. Zak Crawley’s dismissal was quite controversial for the England team. Later England captain Ben Stokes stated that he had a lengthy decision with Jeff Crowe, the match referee about the dismissal. In an interview with TalkSports Ben Stokes expressed his frustration about the ball not hitting Zak’s stumps as he was unhappy with the DRS decision.

The same happened in the second Test

The England captain Ben Stokes was asked his thoughts on the DRS decision. Stokes stated that if the match officials claimed that something had gone wrong, that should be it. “I think the people in charge of it saying that something’s gone wrong, I guess that is enough for itself,” Stokes concluded.

“Zak Crawley was simply informing us about how it was decided to be given out when the balls did not hit the stumps on DRS. The ball did not strike the stumps on replay. The figures indicated that it hit the stump, but the visual was incorrect. So, I’m not really sure what’s going on there,” Ben Stokes stated.

In the second Test match in Vizag Zak Crawley was trapped in front of stumps by Kuldeep Yadav. The replay ball hit the stumps and Zak Crawley was given out as India successfully took the DRS.