Twitter Reactions: Umpire Paul Reiffel hit on the head by a throw walks off

The India vs England fourth Test was moving well with the Indian team making sort of a comeback in the second session after the visitors completely controlled the opening session of the game. Openers Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings got the team off to a good start after winning the toss and deciding to bat first. Amidst smooth proceedings in the 49th over of the day, umpire Paul Reiffel who was standing at square leg was hit by a throw on his head and had to be taken off.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the bowler as Keaton Jennings worked the second ball towards backward square leg where seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was placed as the protection. The batsmen were content with a single Bhuvi was trying to relay the ball to Cheteshwar Pujara at square leg but the ball had less muscle behind it and rather than reaching Pujara hit the umpire standing in its way.

Pujara tried to alert Reiffel but he had too little time to get away and the ball hit him on the back of his head. It wasn’t a full powered throw, a gentle one and that prevented a serious damage. England team physio and doctor rushed to the spot, Reiffel looked in pain, they helped him get himself together and then led him off the ground. He has been taken to the hospital for a CT scan to make sure the intensity of the injury is diagnosed precisely.

All eyes were on the match referee Jeff Crowe now; he had to send another umpire in the middle. He had two options to either go with the fourth umpire Nitin Menon or the third umpire. After a bit of a delay, 11 minutes to be precise, Marais Erasmus who was officiating as the third umpire until that point changed gears and walked out on the field. Chettithody Shamshuddin took over the TV umpire’s role from him with the DRS in play the third umpire’s role also becomes that much more crucial.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the incident:

So, C Samshuddin was around at Wankhede (apparently as an understudy). He is third umpire now. Nitin Menon is still reserve umpire. #IndvEng

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 8, 2016

Marias Erasmus took more time to come out in the middle than a 19-year old girl getting ready for her first date. #INDvENG

— Madhav Sharma (@HashTagCricket) December 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/holdingwilley/status/806768174163050496

Oxenford should have leant Reiffel his protective shield

— John Etheridge (@JohnSunCricket) December 8, 2016

Oh god that looks nasty for Paul Reiffel ! #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/lkO3aBmzxK

— Trojan_Horse (@SampathRedDevil) December 8, 2016

EXT. DAY.

HEROIC MUSIC PLAYS

MARAIS enters the field of play. He is like Bruce Willis, only slimmer and hunkier, and not wearing a vest pic.twitter.com/xjyuhCcyTe

— Alan Tyers (@alantyers) December 8, 2016

First instance in history of cricket where an umpires wicket is taken by a player.
Hope Umpire Paul Reiffel is fine.

— #UdtaIndian (@MrSomeBody21) December 8, 2016

Maybe Umpire Erasmus was delayed as he was frantically closing pop-up windows and deleting the browsing history on the 3rd umpire's laptop.

— 51allout (@51allout) December 8, 2016

Plenty of discussions on who is going to replace umpire paul reiffel & there comes marais erasmus! #IndvEng

— Noushad (@Noushad7995) December 8, 2016

If this were a proper match, Cook would now do square-leg umpire for 10 overs while Oxenford does both ends. #INDvENG #BBCCricket

— daniel norcross (@norcrosscricket) December 8, 2016

#maraiserasmus walks in to join #bruceoxenford who greets him with handshake. Back to action #INDvENG

— G Krishnan (@gikkukrishnan) December 8, 2016

Marais Erasmus will be coming on to replace Paul Reiffel #INDvENG

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 8, 2016

Remember because this is an external injury Paul Reiffel can still open the batting however long he's off #bbccricket #INDvENG

— Richard Parfitt (@RichieParf) December 8, 2016

https://twitter.com/bryce_parker26/status/806767064329293825

Marais Erasmus on the field now as Paul Reiffel goes off (rightly so). Nitin Menon takes over as TV umpire (read DRS duties). #IndvEng

— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) December 8, 2016

Umpire Paul Reiffel is replaced after being hit on the head at square leg by a wayward throw from Kumar in the deep: https://t.co/1OZmpiwqgA pic.twitter.com/4W8EzNeGyU

— Sky Sports Cricket? (@SkyCricket) December 8, 2016

Helmet should be made mandatory for the on-field umpires. https://t.co/xpWjdIWq9z

— Abhay Gupta (@Abhay00) December 8, 2016