Shardul Thakur was sent as India’s night watchman on Day 3 when Mayank Agarwal got out. Thakur played his part to perfection as he played out 25 balls delaying the fall of the next wicket. He had also scored runs in England. Thakur, with three half-centuries in 2021 completed 200 Test runs at an average of 33.33. However, he was dismissed soon the next day.

However soon after, an image on the internet went viral which showed he was out off a no-ball of Kagiso Rabada. This created a furore with Indian fans slamming the third umpire on Twitter. Thakur was dismissed for 10 with Wiaan Mulder taking a good sharp catch in the cordon. “Great umpiring”, the handle tweeted.

https://twitter.com/MayurChavan8491/status/1476112120945074176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1476112120945074176%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.news18.com%2Fcricketnext%2Fnews%2Findia-vs-south-africa-2021-22-shardul-thakur-out-off-no-ball-picture-goes-viral-4605701.html

It didn’t take long before other fans joined in the chorus. “Where is 3rd umpire sleeping? Thakur out on no ball,” a user tweeted, while another pointed towards Rabada’s frequent no-balls. Rabada on Day 1 of the Test match had overstepped on several occasions and with the rules now stating that the third umpires are the ones to be making no-ball calls, the South Africa pacer was called out a few times.

India take a 1-0 lead in the series