Afghanistan defeated faltering five-time champions Sri Lanka by eight wickets to get off to a fantastic start in the Asia Cup. With three wickets in the first three overs of the game, Afghanistan was in control from the start. For the Sri Lankan people and perhaps the officials, it was a forgettable time, with a few perplexing decisions they made grabbing attention as well.
The first incident was the most significant, as Sri Lanka's performance left head coach Chris Silverwood and a few of the players in the locker room in shock. Umpire Anil Chaudhary ruled that opener Pathum Nissanka had been caught behind by bowler Naveen-ul-Haq. Nissanka debated with non-striker Danushka Gunathilaka for some time before deciding to go for the DRS check with a few seconds remaining in the match.
The batter would typically be judged not out if there were even the slightest vibrations on the chart, according to third umpire Jayaraman Madangopal's analysis of the video. Nissanka was still out after the third umpire decided to support Chaudhary's ruling. Nissanka was astonished and ultimately dragged himself off the field as the Sri Lankan camp could not understand what had happened.
Later, Afghanistan skipper Mohammad Nabi's final ball of the seventh over was ruled wide by the umpire. Afghanistan gave the signal for a catch behind down the leg side while acting pretty confidently. Nabi immediately requested a review, and the verdict of the umpire was affirmed. The wide delivery ruling appeared to have been overturned, though, because Sri Lanka's score, which had increased to 50 with the extra, dropped back to 49.
The second incident left the commentators somewhat perplexed. However, they talked about the Nissanka dismissal for a great deal longer.
“That’s very interesting what we’ve just seen,” said on-air commentator Sanjay Manjrekar. “I have never seen a batsman given out for a slight murmur on the UltraEdge. Normally you look for the huge spike. Just the way the dialogue was going on with the third umpire, he looked at a very still line, and then he saw a little tremor. And it’s a little unfair on the batter.”
“But the flicker was right through, wasn’t it?” said co-commentator Russel Arnold, suggesting that the slight flicker had continued from before the ball had passed the bat. “Yeah, I have never seen something like this happen,” Manjrekar said. “Umpires generally wait for a spike to appear. There was no spike at all, if at all there was a little bit of a tremor right through that UltraEdge, which is a brilliant technology, hence everyone’s shocked.”
Manjrekar and Arnold both saw that the batter took a little too long to request a review when typically, hitters evaluate requests for reviews right away when they are caught behind dismissals off the edges so they can determine if they genuinely nicked the ball or not. Wasim Akram, a legendary fast bowler for Pakistan, once predicted a slight tremor in the ultra-edge, which may have contributed to the wicketkeeper's overconfidence in the dismissal.
“Let me throw in another thought,” Manjrekar continued. “You guys heard a click through the stump microphone. The umpire would have heard it as well. Whether that would have influenced the decision at the end…”
“We would have heard it on the conversation, wouldn’t we?” Arnold replied. “We hear the umpires speak. It was about the tremor. Nothing else."
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