“I don’t think we should really doubt” – Dinesh Karthik defends Zak Crawley’s lbw dismissal by Kuldeep Yadav in 2nd India-England Test

Dinesh Karthik has backed the technology amid controversy surrounding Zak Crawley’s leg-before-wicket dismissal by Kuldeep Yadav in the second Test between India and England in Vizag on Monday (February 5). The wicketkeeper-batter further explained why the decision was correct in his opinion by analyzing Yadav’s bowling.

Karthik’s comments came after England captain Ben Stokes said that the DRS decision was wrong since the technology is not cent percent accurate.

The cricketer-cum-commentator told Cricbuzz:

“What does happen is when Kuldeep is bowling around the 80kmph mark then he gets a lot more turn, which means he is bowling slightly slower, gives more air. But this one was around the 86kmph mark, so he was bowling much flatter and faster, and hence the less degree of turn, the two degrees.”

He added:

“That’s why on impact we all felt that probably it was going [down the leg side], but it didn’t do enough for it to be missing the stumps. I don’t think we should really doubt the [ball] tracker.”

Crawley looked excellent with the bat, scoring 73 runs off 132 balls in the second innings for the visitors, but got out against the run of play on the stroke of lunch on Day 4. The right-handed batter also scored 76 off 78 deliveries in the first innings.

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“Great to see” - Dinesh Karthik lauds Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer’s excellent fielding against England in Vizag Test

Dinesh Karthik further lauded Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer for their exploits in the field against England during the fourth innings. The reaction came as Rohit took a stunning catch of Ollie Pope in the slips, while Iyer caught Stokes short of the crease at the striker’s end with a sharp throw.

Speaking to the aforementioned publication, Karthik commented:

“Rohit Sharma’s was a superb catch, and so was Shreyas Iyer. Yes, it was very casual and ordinary running from Ben Stokes that he did it, but still for Iyer to get that deceptive throw in at that speed, you need a certain amount of skill to do that, which was great to see.”

With a 106-run win in the second Test, the hosts leveled the five-match Test series 1-1 against England. The third Test will be played in Rajkot from February 15.