India’s wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant looked destined to take the team to a consolation victory in the third and final Test against New Zealand. After the hosts incurred yet another top-order collapse, losing 5 batters for just 29 runs, Pant displayed a brilliant counter-attacking knock to score 64 runs off 57 balls in the chase of 147 runs. However, Pant had to march back to the pavilion after a controversial dismissal against Ajaz Patel that got the world of social media talking.

New Zealand appealed for a catch by the wicket-keeper but the umpire remained unmoved despite the strong appeal by Ajaz and close-in fielders. New Zealand skipper Tom Latham remained unconvinced by Patel got him to review the decision.

Upon assessment, it was found out that a spike was witnessed on the snicko meter when the ball passed the bat. However, at he same time, Pant’s bat had also hit his pads. Despite the dilemma, the third umpire decided to give the decision in New Zealand’s favour.

Very clear the deflection here. There’s no controversy here.

When bat is resting on the pad already, it’s not going to show the spike. Impact causes spike. Anyway, clear deflection here.

Terrific umpiring under pressure #INDvsNZ #RishabhPant pic.twitter.com/DKhHzgmfsY

— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) November 3, 2024

Fuming at the decision, former South Africa captain AB de Villiers highlighted the ‘grey area’ in the DRS technology, while asking why hotspot is not part of the system.

“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? I’ve always worried about this and here it happens at a huge moment in a big Test match. Where’s hotspot?!”, De Villiers posted on X.

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? I’ve always worried about this and here it happens at a…

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) November 3, 2024

Disappointed with the third umpire’s call, Pant even had a brief chat with the one-field umpire before taking the heavy and slow walk back to the dressing room.