5 controversial decisions taken by the third umpire 

#4 Ian Bell runs back to the pavilion for tea and gets run-out (2011)

The year 2011 is remembered for India’s glorious World Cup triumph. However, post the World Cup in 2011, India went through a lean phase especially overseas. They lost the No. 1 Test ranking after losing 4-0 to England in England.

In the second Test of that series, India found themselves in a good position. After taking a 67-run lead in the first innings, India reduced England to 57/2 to raise hopes of a win. However, Ian Bell led England’s fightback and scored a brilliant century.

And then on the last ball of the 66th over (also the last ball before Tea), Eoin Morgan flicked an Ishant Sharma delivery towards the square-leg boundary which was stopped by Praveen Kumar (a diving stop). The umpire Asad Rauf hadn’t signalled the boundary and wasn’t sure about it as well. Hence, with the help of the third umpire, it was confirmed that it wasn’t a four.

However, the batsmen (Bell and Morgan) had run three and before the ball was thrown back Bell ran towards his partner and started to walk off for Tea. But when the ball was thrown in, the bails were taken off and the Indians appealed for the run-out. The two on-field umpires then consulted third umpire who had several look at the replays. There was lot of confusion going around as the TV umpire took a long time to decide (almost about 5 minutes).

After a pondering for a while, the third umpire decided to give Ian Bell out as the ball wasn’t dead. This decision sparked a lot of controversy and debate. The Indian teamed were booed off the ground as the English crowd weren’t pleased with the decision. The England team were also a bit puzzled about the decision but the third umpire cleared their doubts.

However, after so much drama unfolded going into the Tea break, skipper MS Dhoni decided to withdraw the appeal and recalled Ian Bell. This decision was a brave one and sportsmanship prevailed as Bell resumed batting after Tea.

MS Dhoni was awarded the ICC Spirit of Cricket in the ICC Awards in 2011.