Try as it might, the Decision Review System (DRS) will keep throwing up controversies. The fact that India refused to use the DRS for years was used as a stick to beat the BCCI with, but it will be England this time who will feel aggrieved at a decision that went against them.
On a crucial day two morning, with England looking to get to a score well beyond 350, Ben Stokes would have been the man the away side would have relied on to get them to that big first innings score.
However, having started the day with attacking intent, by using the sweep shot against the spinners – India, of course, started the day with their spinners – Stokes fell prey to R Ashwin, or at least that is how it will go down in the record books.
Ashwin had beaten the outside edge of Stokes' bat on numerous occasions on day one and the left-hander would have considered himself lucky to still be there when the match resumed on day two morning. However, having survived that Ashwin assault, Stokes would have backed himself to get a big score.
In the third over of the day, Ashwin produced another one of those deliveries, that drifts in and spins away. Stokes went to defend, but the ball missed the middle of the bat, before a sound was heard on the way through to Virat Kohli in the slips, with the skipper taking the catch via a deflection from the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel.
India went up in celebration, thinking it was a foregone conclusion that it was out, but Bruce Oxenford thought otherwise, shook his head and gave it not out. Kohli, after a bit of a pause for thought, went for the review.
Now, the problem is that the third umpire is the fourth umpire for the match C Shamsuddin, not the much more experienced in the DRS Marais Erasmus, who was forced to work on field following the head injury sustained by Paul Reiffel on Thursday. So, no matter what decision he gave, there was going to be controversy.
Stokes looked confident that it was not out, indicating the bat had hit the ground and that was the sound everyone had hear. However, replays suggested, just the normal replay, that there was a deflection.
It wasn't conclusive enough to just give it out on that, but when the Ultraedge system showed a spike, it looked like Stokes was indeed out. The only problem was that the bat of Stokes seemed to be hitting the ground at pretty much the same time, so that spike – Ultraedge picks up any sound, not just ones of the bat hitting ball – could have come from there as well.
Shamsuddin "rocked and rolled" it quite a few times and eventually gave it out.
Stokes' reaction was one of disbelief, but looking at the replays again, it did look like the right decision had been given. It looked like an outside edge on replay and Ultraedge showed that edge right at that moment.
It is a decision that will stir up debate, but you have to say, the right one was probably given in the end, even if Stokes and England might feel otherwise.
Watch the controversial decision HERE
