Optical illusion creates major confusion over Matthew Wade's third ODI dismissal

Ishant sharma was the centre of discussions on social media during yesterday’s match between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The right arm pacer appeared to overstep the bowling crease during a delivery which resulted in Australian wicket keeper batsman, Matthew Wade’s dismissal. This caused a stir on social media as fans on Twitter mistook an optical illusion caused by the bat of Glenn Maxwell, the batsman at the other end of the pitch to be the line.

The bat was parallel to the crease and the camera angle combined with the speed of the action resulted in the creation of an optical illusion.

Ishant was the best among Indian bowlers during yesterday’s match with figures of 2-53 in ten overs. Wade, who was batting at six was caught by Shikhar Dhawan wide of mid-on during the 39th over in the controversial Ishant Sharma delivery. Wade left the batting crease but replays hinted at the possibility of the delivery being a no-ball.

Twitter users took to expressing their opinions on the social networking site as soon as the replays were aired.

The fans were livid at what they thought was an illegal delivery.

However, a closer inspection showed that Ishant’s front foot was behind the line, hence reinforcing that the umpire’s decision of not calling the delivery illegal was correct.

India had scored 295 for the loss of six wickets in their innings of 50 overs during the third ODI of the Victoria Bitter series. Virat Kohli’s mighty innings of 117 took the touring side to a respectable score but the men in blue failed to defend the total. The match saw a bit of drama between Australian left arm pacer James Faulkner and Virat Kohli as the former tried sledging the aggressive Indian batsman. However, the game was won by Australia with three wickets to spare, having played 48.5 overs. Glenn Maxwell was declared ‘Man of the Match’ for his fabulous innings under pressure, scoring 96 off 83 deliveries. During his innings, he had smashed eight fours and three sixes to bring the home side a lead of 3-0 in the series.

No ball wicket. Hey bring back Wade #AUSvIND https://t.co/C2x8k7ULWB

— JJ (@jjliveson) January 17, 2016

@CricketAus That looks like a no ball to me

— ema (@25MMCC) January 17, 2016

@boards2803 @CricketAus you worked it out yet? He was well behind the line

— Alex Carter (@abbacarter) January 17, 2016