England captain Ben Stokes believes Zak Crawley’s dismissal in the second innings of the Vizag Test on February 5 was a result of technology making the incorrect decision. The England opener’s dismissal during the second innings of the Vizag Test against India provoked outrage among English fans and experts.
Zak Crawley was outfoxed by a delivery that stayed low and hit him on the pads, prompting an appeal from the hosts, with the umpire remaining unmoved to the spinner’s appeal he presented his case to the skipper to take DRS. While both of the aforementioned circumstances would have benefited England rather well, the DRS indicated three reds, prompting Crawley to return to the pavilion.
During the post-match press conference, Ben Stokes was questioned about the situation and said that it was the wrong call by technology at the end of the day and feels that it is important to accept the decision and move on rather than thinking too much about the dismissal.
“My personal opinion is that the technology has gone wrong on this occasion. That’s where I stand on it, Technology in the game is obviously there and everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100 percent. That’s why we have the ‘umpire’s call’, that’s why it’s in place.”
“So when it’s not 100 per cent, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong’. I will say that, but in a game full of ifs, buts, and maybes I am not going to say that’s the reason why we haven’t got the result we wanted. You can’t really do much with things that have been and gone. You can’t really overturn a decision that has been made,” Ben Stokes said.
Zak Crawley was the lone warrior in the England batting lineup as he held his team’s innings together and he watched wickets fall at the opposite end. The opener had also reached a fifty in the first innings before being caught brilliantly by Shreyas Iyer off Axar Patel’s bowling.
Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav bowled 3/71 in 17 overs for England’s first innings in Visakhapatnam. He delivered a spell of 1/60 in 15 overs in the second innings picking up the important wicket of Zak Crawley as India won the game by 106 runs on Monday to even the five-match series.