IND vs ENG: Ishant Sharma survives hit-wicket appeal on dead ball; watch video

A screengrab of the incident

Weeks after completing a historic series win over Australia, Team India-under Virat Kohli's leadership failed to maintain the winning momentum against England. The team, who were also playing their first fixture at home since the Covid-19 hiatus, lost the opening encounter of the four-match Test series by 227 runs. 

The match was marked with visitors dominating the proceedings on all the five days. However, during the dying stages of the clash when England were a wicket away from the win an unusual incident occurred.

The incident took place in the 57th over, as England players went for a hit-wicket appeal against India tailender Ishant Sharma. The fielders were confident about the ball dislodging the bails, but both the batsman and the umpires decided to take a closer look. 

After referring the decision to the third-umpire, it was found that the bails were not dislodged by the batsman but it had fallen even before the ball was delievered, after which it was termed a dead-ball by the umpire. 

Here is a video of the incident:

pic.twitter.com/x8L1KJVzZH — Sandybatsman (@sandybatsman) February 9, 2021

However, soon after the incident England speedster Jofra Archer removed Jasprit Bumrah on 4 and drew the curtains on the contest.  

With the win, England have now moved 1-0 up in the four-match contest. Meanwhile, the win also saw Root and co. climb at the top of the nine-team World Test Championship points table.