Josh Hazlewood backs umpire's call on controversial Kohli dismissal

The third day of the India v Australia Test at Bengaluru turned out to be a very closely contested day. One of the key highlights of the day was the dismissal of Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Kohli was trapped lbw by pacer Josh Hazlewood on 15. Kohli reckoned that he had an inside edge to it and took no time in reviewing it after being given out by the on-field umpire. The third umpire, Richard Kettleborough, found it tough reviewing the decision too.

It seemed as if the bat and the pad had hit the ball at the same time. Meanwhile, when the umpire was reviewing the decision, Kohli looked calm and confident at the crease. However, due to lack of conclusive evidences, the third umpire decided to stay with the on-field call.

A very surprised Kohli was definitely not pleased with the decision and was seen in high tempers too. As per the quotes in Sportskeeda, the pacer who got him out, Josh Hazlewood believes that it was indeed pad first. He noted that even he had heard the wood sound and wasn’t quite interested initially. However, after seeing the men around the bat excited, he joined the appeal.

“I think initially I just heard a bit of wood so I sort of pulled out of the appeal, but the guys behind the wicket and square of the wicket were pretty confident and he got given out. I think after looking at the reviews you could see it just touching that pad before the bat, so I think you had to stick with the on-field call,” quoted Hazlewood.

The Aussie speedster pointed out that it was justified on Kohli’s part to be in high tempers as he thought it had hit the bat. But he feels that the tempers must be kept under control. The way the Test match is unfolding, it is bound to see a few temper glares in the days to come.

“He was obviously pretty confident he got some bat on it, obviously reviewing it straight away, but as we saw it was pretty tight and I think his temperature rose a little bit, but you have to stick with the on-field call. I think temperatures are rising a little bit. It’s obviously pretty intense out there but we try and stick to playing on skill and being calm out there and I think that’s when we play our best cricket,” noted Josh Hazlewood.

India have been struggling in the batting department and had three low totals coming into the second innings of the ongoing Test. This time the batsmen showed a lot more intent and gave India a crucial lead by the end of the day. Hazlewood cited that the intent from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane was different and that is the sole reason why they reaped rewards on the day.

“I just think they showed a bit more intent. They scored at three an over which is an increase since the last couple of innings, just that intent at the crease and scoring off those looser deliveries, getting down the other end and to keep rotating the strike is probably key – I think the two guys did it well,” he conceded.