Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has likened Dean Elgar’s DRS controversy in the Cape Town Test to that of Sachin Tendulkar’s LBW saga against Pakistan in the 2011 ICC ODI World Cup semifinal.
Incidentally, the Proteas skipper was trapped below the knee roll of Ravichandran Ashwin, but replays showed that the ball would have gone way over the stumps. The Indians, especially skipper Virat Kohli, weren’t happy with the development. Kohli even went up to the stump mic and expressed his agony and disbelief.
Virat Kohli looks frustrated after the ball tracking has gone over Dean Elgar stumps 😭#INDvsSA #SAvsIND#ViratKohli #SAvINDpic.twitter.com/CI99oYT0u0
— Cricket Hotspot (@AbdullahNeaz) January 14, 2022
Speaking in the wake of it, Aakash Chopra likened the situation to Sachin Tendulkar, when the LBW appeal from Saeed Ajmal looked dead plumb from the naked eye.
“Two things here. I remember this was 2011, India vs Pakistan, semi-final game at Mohali. Saeed Ajmal is bowling, Sachin Tendulkar is batting, Ian Gould is the umpire. He gives him out. All of us thought he is dead and plumb in front.
“Then the DRS, the ball-tracking technology at that point in time somehow showed that the ball is missing the stumps. Not even kissing it. We all thought it was a miracle. Did we actually complain as much at that point in time? No, we did not,” Chopra said on Star Sports.
“We took it in the stride because it went out. Now, this is something of course in the heat of the moment you are agitated,” Aakash Chopra added.
“I was bewildered how did it actually miss” – Aakash Chopra
The cricketer-turned-commentator further stressed that he was shocked to actually see the ball missing the stumps by a fair margin.
“You are frustrated because even while looking at the screen, I was bewildered how did it actually miss because it looked like it was crashing onto the stumps,” Chopra added.
With two days remaining in the last Test, South Africa need 111 runs to win with eight wickets in hand.
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