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[Saba Sports News] Ravichandran Ashwin was on the brink of claiming his 500th Test wicket in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam when Tom Hartley narrowly escaped dismissal due to the Decision Review System (DRS). The incident occurred in the 63rd over as Hartley’s reverse sweep appeared to be caught after deflecting off his gloves. Umpire Chris Gaffaney initially declared him out, but the decision was reviewed.
The replay revealed that the ball had hit Hartley’s forearm, not his gloves, making a catch impossible. The third umpire, Paul Reiffel, also reviewed for LBW, but it remained ‘Umpire’s call’ on both impact and wicket impact, leading to the reversal of Gaffaney’s decision. The overturn left Rohit Sharma, the Indian team, and fans perplexed, especially since the original dismissal was for a catch, not LBW.
Before this, Ashwin had taken the wickets of Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, and Joe Root, leaving him just one shy of the 500-wicket milestone. Despite bowling one more over after the incident, Ashwin couldn’t secure another wicket.
On Day 4, England resumed needing 332 runs with nine wickets remaining. Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed added 28 runs before Axar Patel dismissed Ahmed. Although Pope and Root made promising starts, they couldn’t capitalize. England’s session included scoring 130 runs for the loss of five wickets, with Crawley making 73.
A fielding highlight from Shreyas Iyer saw off Ben Stokes, and despite a 55-run stand between Hartley and Ben Foakes, England’s resistance crumbled, leading to a 106-run victory for India, tying the series at 1-1 with three matches left.