Legendary cricket umpire Simon Taufel has also expressed his take on the controversial Jonny Bairstow dismissal that happened in the second Test match at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground in London. While the cricketing world is divided on the whether the decision was "fair play" or against the "spirit of the game", the former ICC Elite Panel umpire who won the ICC Umpire of The Year five times in a row between 2004 to 2008, has confirmed that the correct decision was made with regards to the laws of the game.
"Correct decision made. They (England) just didn’t like it. For that ball to be considered dead after the over or even after the delivery, both sides need to disregard it is in play. Clearly, the fielding side hadn’t," Taufel said while speaking on ABC Sydney Mornings.
Taufel is spot on with his observation that the ball was still in play. Replays confirmed that even though Bairstow did not want to take a run, he had left his crease early assuming that the ball was dead. However, Alex Carey, as confirmed by Australian captain Pat Cummins, had observed that Bairstow had been leaving his crease early on quite a few occasions which is why he threw the ball at stumps.
Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin too felt that the keeper's game smartness should be lauded rathan than turning the matter into a spirit of the game debate.
"We must get one fact loud and clear “The keeper would never have a dip at the stumps from that far out in a test match unless he or his team have noticed a pattern of the batter leaving his crease after leaving a ball like Bairstow did.” We must applaud the game smarts of the individual rather than skewing it towards unfair play or spirit of the game. #Ashes2023," Ashwin tweeted.