'Anything close will be not out...'- Anil Kumble slams umpire Paul Reiffel during ENG vs IND 3rd Test

The former Indian captain, Anil Kumble, hasn’t mimicked his words on the on-field umpiring of Paul Reiffel, who nearly, according to the veteran, had decided that ‘anything close would be not out.’ Kumble’s comments came after a horrible decision saw Reiffel rule Joe Root not out despite the right-handed batter using his feet and moving so much to the off-stump line.

It wasn’t the first decision from the umpire that India felt disappointed with. In case of Joe Root, Mohammed Siraj was very confident of Joe Root getting dismissed on that delivery. It was almost a celebratory appeal from the Hyderabad-born, who convinced his captain, Shubman Gill, to show the ‘T’ sign. The rest was up to the TV umpire.

The pitching was in line, the impact was in line, but the main product of ‘wickets hitting’ came as the umpire’s call. The television screen showed Siraj purely frustrated as the Indian camp, unhappily, went back to their position, but Anil Kumble wasn’t happy and expressed ‘It seems if Paul Reiffel has decided that anything close, it’s not out.’ He didn’t mince his words in the commentary box.

Anil Kumble slams Paul Reiffel for a poor umpiring decision

That looked like it would have crashed into the leg stump. That wicket could have been so important at that time for the visiting side, who, even after picking four wickets in the first session, weren’t able to break the fifth wicket stand between Root and Ben Stokes. It wasn’t as if they didn’t bowl well, but the luck seemed to be ending its friendship for the passage of play.

Earlier in the morning, Paul didn’t raise his finger against Ollie Pope. Siraj was again the bowler. That time the ball was a nip backer as it hit the right-handed batter on the middle and off-stump. Gill took the review and got the result in his favor.

During the evening session yesterday, it was the other on-field umpire, Sharfuddoula, who gave Akash Deep out on leg before the stumps twice in three balls against Chris Woakes before the batter kept his life in the middle thanks to the two consecutive successful reviews.