Indian fans fume as Rishab Pant controversially given out caught by the TV Umpire

Controversy erupted on the third day of the final test match between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede. India were tasked with chasing down 147 to save themselves from a rare embarrassing series sweep. The chips were down and India immediately found itself in trouble waters when they were reduced to 29-5 inside 10 overs. 

But Rishab Pant was the only Indian batter to throw the punches back at the New Zealand bowlers. The flamboyant wicket-keeper batter was in the mood to attack right from the word go and was more than ready to use his feet and deploy a wide range of sweeps against the spinning ball.

As all the batters failed to apply themselves on a tricky Wankhede pitch, Pant seemed far more resolute than the others and scored at an alarmingly high strike rate of over 100 to keep India in the run chase. But the moment he was removed by Ajaz Patel during the 22nd over, India’s hopes of winning the match quickly dissipated and the home side agonizingly fell short by 25 runs.  

Here is how the drama around his dismissal unfolded 

Pant resumed the second session after lunch on a very assuring note for India. He was going great guns and was batting beautifully on 64. Pant was riding his luck thus far and India were well on course for a consolation win. But the 27-year-old soon ran out of luck when Ajaz came on to bowl the 22nd over of the run chase.

After smacking Ajaz for a few boundaries in that over, Pant decided to use his feet during the fourth ball of the over. It was a generously tossed-up delivery that turned fractionally after pitching. Pant steps out of his crease to make contact with the ball but the ball balloons up in the air after hitting the pads and Blundell pouches it at short leg. At first glance, it appeared that Pant had not made any contact with the ball.

Desperate to turn the tide in their favor, Latham decided to go for the review. The replay revealed a notable spike on the UltraEdge when the bat made contact with Pant's pad; however, a similar spike was observed when the ball approached the bat. But after the ball had passed the inside edge of his bat, an obvious delection was seen before the ball made contact with his pad. At that very moment, Pant immidiately approached the umpires and indicated to them that there was no bat involvement. The on-field umpires were in no mood to buy into his explanation and when the decisive moment came, umpire Illingworth reversed his "not out" decision to "out" as per the recommendation from the TV umpire. Pant stood his ground helplessly at first but reluctantly began walking towards the dressing room.

The decision came under severe criticism by the fans and the leading cricket experts. After the game, Rohit Sharma expressed solidarity with Pant and believed that the TV umpire made a glaring error in giving Pant out. In addition, retired South African batting star Ab de Villiers also came in support of Pant and questioned the TV umpire's  controversial out decision.