Kumar Dharmasena under fire after saving England's DRS during ENG vs IND 5th Test at Kennington Oval

Sri Lanka’s veteran umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, didn’t start the last week of the five-match Test series between England and India at Kennington Oval in South London on a positive note after he made a major blunder during the first session of the contest. In many ways, it could have been painted as the ‘cheating’ word, as the former England pacer, Stuart Broad, was quick to pick that up in the commentary.

On the second ball of the 13th over, Josh Tongue’s searing in-swinging delivery nearly yorked the number three of the visitors, Sai Sudharsan, who fell on the floor in digging the ball. He lost his balance as the entire home side went for a huge appeal, to which Dharmasena shook his head, besides signaling an ‘inside edge’ with his finger.

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Broad reckoned that this gesture would not have satisfied him much had he been sitting on India’s dug-out. The replays showed that the delivery was a low full-toss from the Warwickshire pacer and got the batter in a tangle. It indeed brushed onto the bat as the umpire helped the home side by avoiding burning the review.

Kumar Dharmasena under fire after saving England's DRS during ENG vs IND 5th Test

Under DRS protocol, the umpires are not allowed to indicate such explanations to the bowling or batting side during the appeals, which can benefit a side. This website also raises questions on whether the umpire did the right thing by showing the gesture, because, looking at how the home side appealed, they could have easily gone for the review.

Change of venues didn’t help India’s captain, Shubman Gill, who lost his fifth toss of the series, stretching India’s record of 15 straight tosses in international cricket. They made several changes on the side, noteworthy of Jasprit Bumrah’s omission while getting Karun Nair back in the team at number five.

In the first half an hour, they lost Yashasvi Jaiswal. Once the runs were dried, KL Rahul looked to free his arms and got the ball dragged onto the stumps. Later, Gill and Sudharsan saw off the first session with 72/2 before the heavens opened to stop the game, seven minutes before the scheduled break.