India vs Australia: Virat Kohli given LBW in Controversial circumstances, Should he have been given Not Out?

India
were
in
deep
trouble
at
Lunch
as
they
lost
4
wickets
in
the
first
session
on
Saturday.
KL
Rahul,
Rohit
Sharma,
Cheteshwar
Pujara
and
Shreyas
Iyer
all
fell
to
Nathan
Lyon’s
magic
as
India
were
88/4
at
Lunch.

But
Virat
Kohli
was
still
at
the
crease.
The
Indian
talisman
steadied
the
ship
and
played
with
precision
throughout
the
latter
stage
of
the
first
session.
And
after
lunch,
he
broke
his
shackles
and
started
playing
some
decent
shots.
But
unfortunately,
Kohli
departed
for
44,
under
controversial
circumstances.

Kohli
LBW
decision:

Virat
Kohli
was
caught
by
debutant
Matthew
Kuhnemann
and
was
given
out
by
the
on-field
umpire
Nitin
Menon.
He
took
the
DRS
and
the
replay
showed
the
ball
was
adjacent
to
both
his
bat
and
pad.
The
third
umpire
took
a
long
time
but
ended
up
deciding
the
ball
hit
Kohli’s
pad
first,
thus
giving
him
out
after
the
ball
tracker
showed
the
ball
was
going
to
hit
the
stumps.

The
Indian
batter
was
seemingly
distraught
and
even
the
commentators
indulged
in
the
debate
of
whether
the
ball
met
the
bat
or
pad
first.

Virat
Kohli
given
OUT
in
Controversial
Fashion:

The
whole
debate
rises
from
the
replay
which
quite
clearly
showed
the
ball
had
hit
the
bat
and
pad
together.
There
was
neither
any
conclusive
evidence
that
the
ball
had
struck
the
bat
first,
nor
it
could
say
whether
Kohli’s
legs
shattered
first.

Why
always

@imVkohli
in
theses
types
of
controversial
lbw
descision?
clearly
there’s
an
inside
edge.
What
do
you
think?@StarSportsIndia

@cricketaakash
@ICC
#ViratKohli
#lbw
pic.twitter.com/wPYgjrBujW

—
Muhammed
Masum
Qadri
Misbahi
(@Masum_Misbahi)

February
18,
2023

But
as
the
on-field
call
was
Out,
the
third
umpire
didn’t
overrule
the
decision
as
the
replay
couldn’t
determine
any
clear
and
obvious
error.

MCC
Law
Fuels
Kohli
Controversy:

According
to
MCC
law
36
of
LBW,
If
ball
touches
both
bat
and
pad,
bat
is
considered
and
batsman
is
given
not
out.
What
the
hell
these
umpires
doing!!
MCC-https://t.co/rlFGhyFuL0#ViratKohli
#BCCI
#INDvsAUS
#CricketTwitter
#BorderGavaskarTrophy
#RohitSharma
#KLRahul
#ashwin
pic.twitter.com/rTa31aFhxq

—
Anmol
Narang
(@Anmol_Narang_)

February
18,
2023

The
debate
is
fuelled
even
more
as
the
MCC
Law
36
says
if
the
ball
hits
the
bat
and
pad
at
the
same
time,
connection
with
the
bat
is
considered
and
the
batsman
is
deemed
Not
Out.
The
third
umpire
didn’t
exercise
the
option
in
Kohli’s
case
and
gave
the
batter
Out.

It
was
a
great
moment
though
for
the
Australian
debutant
Matthew
Kuhnemann,
who
had
Kohli
as
his
first
International
wicket.
Kuhnemann,
the
left-arm
spinner
was
flown
in
after
the
1st
Test
and
got
straight
into
the
team.