Umpire Gaffaney almost gives a heart attack to Pujara; others burst in laughter

Photo: BCCI

New Delhi: As if the India-Australia series had not seen its fare share of unusual incidents. Umpire Chris Gaffaney decided to add on to the list of bizarre things by putting his finger up and then aborting it at the very last moment. 

A series which has been throttled by on field incidents whether it was Smith’s moment of ‘brain fade’ or Ishant Sharma’s mimicry but the last thing it would have wanted was an umpiring goof-up.

In the 140th over of the Indian innings, Pujara missed an attempted pull shot. Hazlewood went back to his run up after showing a bit of descent. The reason for his descent was revealed later on when television replays showed what umpire Gaffaney had done.

Gaffaney raised his finger but changed his mind mid way after seeing the non-interested Australians. He completed his action by scratching his head, to indicate the reason for his raised finger. 

The third umpire Nigel Llong and square leg umpire Ian Gould had their fair share of laughs after watching the entire episode in the big screen.     

The Australians, however, were not amused at all.