Today marks the final day of the Lord’s Test. Both England and India have equal chances of winning. India needs 135 more runs, while England needs six wickets. In such a tense situation, former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has harshly criticized umpire Paul Reiffel. Referring to a comment made by his father, Ashwin remarked that “India won’t win if Paul Reiffel is umpiring.”
The third Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is being officiated by Australian umpire Reiffel and Bangladesh’s Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid. Throughout the past four days, several umpiring decisions in this match have sparked discussions.
Ashwin believes that had umpire Reiffel made the correct decision, Joe Root’s innings would have been shorter. During Mohammed Siraj’s over, India appealed against Root, but Reiffel declared him not out. Later, on DRS, the decision remained “umpire’s call.”
Speaking about the incident, Ashwin said:
“If I talk about Paul Reiffel… I’m not saying he should’ve given that out. That’s not the main issue. The issue is — when India is bowling, he thinks it’s not out, and when India is batting, he thinks it’s out. If this happened not just against India but against other countries too, then ICC should definitely look into it.”
Ashwin was also upset with another decision by Reiffel — when Shubman Gill was given out off a delivery by Brydon Carse. However, the DRS showed a clear gap between the bat and the ball. Commenting on that, Ashwin said:
“I have a sedan car. I could park it in the gap between the bat and ball on that one. That was clearly not out (but he still gave it). But this isn’t the first time. My father was sitting next to me watching the game, and he told me: ‘If Paul Reiffel is there, we won’t win.’”
Not only Ashwin, former Indian captain and coach Anil Kumble also expressed criticism regarding Reiffel’s umpiring decisions.
