Rishabh Pant Out Or Not Out? Social Media Reacts To ‘Controversial’ Wicket As India Suffer Historic 3-0 Clean-Sweep

Social media reacted to Rishabh Pant's controversial dismissal at 64 in the 3rd IND vs NZ as it turned the game, leading to India’s 25-run loss and a 3-0 series sweep.

Rishabh Pant Contoversial Wicket: Rishabh Pant, the Team India wicket-keeper batter, made a slow walk back to the Indian dressing room as he was involved in a controversial dismissal when New Zealand reviewed umpire Richard Illingworth’s original ‘Not Out’ decision and got it overturned to ‘Out’ in the 24th over of the India vs New Zealand 3rd Test in Mumbai. The dismissal proved to be the most crucial juncture of the IND vs NZ Test as Pant was batting on 64 runs with India needing 41 runs to win and avoid a 3-0 clean-sweep to New Zealand. However, after Pant’s wicket, India lost all their remaining wickets, eventually losing by 25 runs.

Ajaz Patel bowled the fourth ball of the 24th over in the final innings of the Mumbai Test to Pant, who danced down the pitch but missed the ball completely. It popped up off his pad and into the keeper Tom Blundell’s gloves. Despite the bowler's enthusiastic appeal, umpire Illingworth remained unmoved. Kiwi skipper Tom Latham consulted with his teammates and signalled for a review with only two seconds remaining.

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Social Media Reacts To Rishabh Pant's Controversial Dismissal

With the ball near Pant’s bat as it made contact with his pad, UltraEdge displayed a murmur at that moment, prompting New Zealand to celebrate immediately. However, Pant engaged in a conversation with the on-field umpires seemingly conveying that it is the murmur created by the bat’s contact with his pad but third umpire Paul Reiffel suggested that there was a deflection in the ball's trajectory when it was near the bat, leading to the overturning of umpire Illingworth's original decision. This left Pant as well as the Wankhede crowd visibly distressed as Pant made the long walk back to the dressing room, likely believing the sound picked up was from his bat hitting the pad.

Pant’s dismissal sparked debate on social media, with many arguing that he was not out, suggesting the UltraEdge murmur was likely due to contact between Pant’s bat and pad. Others pointed out the absence of HotSpot technology in India as a factor.

Former South Africa batter AB de Villiers took to X and said, "Controversy! Little grey area once again. Did Pant get bat on that or not? Problem is when the ball passes the bat at exactly the same time a batter hits his pad snicko will pick up the noise. But how sure are we he hit it?"

Here's a few social media reactions to Rishabh Pant's dismissal: