Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin gets Ben Stokes after controversial DRS decision

One of the reasons why India were opposed to DRS for a long time was the ball-tracking technology and it’s accuracy. Ever since the technology had been approved for the ongoing Test series between India and England, India have used DRS without much consideration or thought and based purely on emotion.

However, on a couple of occasions, when they have decided to take their time and consider all the options, they have come out trumps. And that proved to be the case with Ben Stokes’ dismissal early on day two off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin.

Bowling the final ball of his second over of the day, Ashwin got the all-rounder squared up just like he did in Mohali. But this time though, it looked as though he got a faint edge on the ball, which ballooned up off the keeper to slip, where Virat Kohli took an excellent catch diving forward. But the on-field umpire wasn’t too happy with what he had seen.

WATCH: Ashwin gets Stokes thanks to DRS

After taking his time, Virat Kohli finally decided that they should review the decision and they went upstairs. And after it was shown to be a legal delivery, the third umpire, C Shamsuddin, who was standing in for Marais Erasmus who replaced Paul Reiffel as the second on-field umpire had a look at Ultra Edge.

Controversy erupts in Mumbai

This was what tempted the third umpire to give Ben Stokes out

Although there was a sound just as the ball passed the bat and there was also a spike on Ultra Edge, that sound could also have been from the bat hitting the ground, which happened at the exact same time the ball passed the bat.

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There certainly looked as though there was enough doubt there to give Stokes, the benefit of doubt but the stand-in third umpire Shamsuddin decided that the spike on Ultra Edge was conclusive and he was happy with it and asked the on-field umpire to reverse his decision to give the all-rounder out.

Even if there was no edge, the ball, which also clipped Stokes’ pads looked as though it was going to crash into the stumps and the batsman would have been given out leg before. But the problem with that was that it seemed as though the ball was pitching outside leg and although the review was for caught behind, the third umpire could just as easily have had a look at ball-tracking and confirmed whether this was an lbw or not.

While it might not have taken too much time, it certainly would have helped alleviate the anger on Ben Stokes’ face as he left the ground, after being given out when he thought it was his bat that hit the ground. However, it wasn’t to be and Ashwin picked up his seventh five-wicket haul of the year in Tests.

What would have had Stokes fuming even more was the fact that the third umpire seemed to ask for someone’s opinion while the Ultra Edge was being played on TV, which is not something that is usually. Also what Marais Erasmus, who was the designated third umpire for the game would have been interesting to find out.

Extra Cover: Bhuvneshwar Kumar hits umpire Paul Reiffel on the back of his head with a throw

In any case, that was a controversial decision, which could have gone eitherway, but probably should have in the batsman’s favour, considering the amount of doubt there was with the bat hitting the ground at the same time as the ball passing the outside edge.

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