Virat Kohli ‘contentious’ catch in Perth Test irks Indian cricket team fans

Virat Kohli was batting like a dream on day 3 of the Perth Test against Australia. The Indian skipper notched up his 25^th century and sixth in Australia by driving Mitchell Starc to the long off fence for a boundary. After that, he pointed to his bat and made a gesture with his hand which stated, “My bat does the talking”. The intent signalled one thing that he was ready to pile on the misery on the Australians. He upper-cut Josh Hazlewood to the third man fence and registered some crisp boundaries off Starc. With lunch approaching and India erasing the deficit, Kohli was on 123 and India dominated. However, the Indian skipper drove a full ball and the edge flew to Peter Handscomb at second slip.

Handscomb moved to his right and got the fingers underneath the ball and he claimed the catch. The third umpire was asked to look into it and umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave the soft signal as out. Replays were not that conclusive to overturn the decision and Kohli was given the marching orders. India lost their last five wickets for 32 runs as Australia seized a 43-run lead. Following the decision, Kohli was bitterly disappointed and he could be seen blurting out expletives as he walked back to the dressing room.

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However, the catch has drawn sharp divisions from social media users. Many Indian cricket fans believed that the catch was not clean and Kohli fell victim to some poor umpiring yet again. Many former cricket players voiced their opinion on Twitter with some questioning whether the catch was clean.

Kohli was out or not out ? What do u say guys ??

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) December 16, 2018

I know there will be a lot of debate on the Kohli dismissal but it is critical to note that the law says there must be conclusive evidence to overturn the on-field umpire's decision. Kohli thought it bounced but historically those have been given out (more)

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) December 16, 2018

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A reminder to all Indian fans of the catch KL Rahul claimed in Adelaide. pic.twitter.com/PGSkyu4kt5

— Dennis Kohli (@DennisCricket_) December 16, 2018

Sorry Harsha, maybe not a politically correct question at this stage, but did anyone recheck the catch taken by KL Rahul? First impression was that ball touched the ground a wee bit! Nevertheless, gr8 victory for India, very proud!

— Ninad Behere (@ninadbehere) December 10, 2018

KL rahul took this catch in Adelaide and was given OUT . Inconclusive evidence means umpire’s call. pic.twitter.com/wxR1qRjNLg

— Jai (@Jaikherajani) December 16, 2018

However, there was one more section of social media users who pointed out that when KL Rahul took the catch of Josh Hazlewood in the fourth innings of the Adelaide Test, there were not too many questions raised. In that match, replays showed that Rahul apparently might have not taken the catch cleanly when Hazlewood edged Ravichandran Ashwin. India went on to win the match by 31 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Australia heaved a high sigh of relief when Kohli was given out and they would be aiming to press home the advantage as they look to bounce back and level the series.