Peter Siddle was adjudged run-out following a bizarre incident on the third and final day of the tour game between India ‘A’ and the Australians at the Guru Nanak College ground, here on Monday.
In the morning, when the 48th over of the Australian side’s first innings was in progress, Siddle clipped left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhruv through mid-wicket. Pursuing the ball, Manpreet Grewal picked it up and threw it to the bowler’s end after it had clearly made contact with the boundary rope. As Siddle attempted to complete the third run, Dhruv collected the ball, knocked off the bails and appealed for a run-out.
Even as the umpire sought the aid of the television replay, the media contingent — that was seated just beyond the boundary and had seen the ball brush the rope when Grewal gathered it — signalled ‘four’.
Immediately, Rohit Sharma put his finger to the lips and gestured in the direction of the media corps to ‘keep quiet.’
Siddle was given the marching orders after replays found him to be short of the crease. It seemed plausible that the replays were confined only to the question of whether Siddle had reached the crease in time, and not if the ball had hit the boundary rope.
