England missed an opportunity to break a strong fourth wicket partnership on Day One of the third Test match in Rajkot, failing to review a not-out lbw appeal against Rohit Sharma that replays suggested would have been overturned.
The India captain was nearing an 11th Test century in the afternoon session, having steadied the innings from 33-3 early in the day. He put on a century stand with Ravindra Jadeja, promoted up the order to No.5, and was nearing his century as Tea approached. Earlier in the morning session, Rohit had been given a reprieve when he was dropped at slip by Joe Root on 27. He was also given out lbw from the next ball he faced, but the decision was overturned after the review showed a slight inside edge onto his front pad.
As the partnership between Rohit and Jadeja continued, Rehan Ahmed was brought into the attack late in the afternoon. Facing the third ball of Rehan’s second over, on 87 at the time, Rohit attempted to sweep behind square, but was struck on the pad. There were stifled appeals from Ben Foakes behind the stumps and Rehan, but umpire Kumar Dharmasena was uninterested.
No serious discussions took place between the England fielders to review the decision, with Rehan indicating immediately he thought the ball would miss the stumps. On first look the ball had appeared to be going down leg, and had pitched close to the line of off stump. There was also concern that the ball had brushed Rohit’s glove before hitting the pad.
However, replays showed that the ball had not conclusively hit the glove, with a very small spike appearing at a point where there was a gap between ball and glove. When ball-tracking was shown, the ball was proved to be cannoning into leg stump, with the three reds needed to overturn a not-out call all lit up.
To add insult to injury, Rohit smoked a four off the final ball of Rehan’s over to go into the nineties. Both Jadeja and Rohit went into Tea unbeaten five overs later, making it India’s first wicketless session of the series. Rohit reached his century in the first over after the break, his third Test hundred against England.
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