As India and England battled it out on a tricky pitch in the first session on Day 3 of the second Test in Chennai, there was a moment of brevity when part-timer Dan Lawrence appealed for caught-behind off his very first delivery. Lawrence, an off-spinner, bowled it across Ravichandran Ashwin and it slid down leg side and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes collected cleanly. Lawrence immediately appealed for the wicket and convinced captain Joe Root to review the decision after the umpire remained unmoved. Replays showed a huge gap between bat and ball as it went past Ashwin and the review was wasted.

Australian spin legend Shane Warne was amused by England’s decision to waste a review when it wasn’t even close to being an edge.

“Was that review in the grand final of worst reviews ever?” Warne wrote on Twitter.

Was that review in the grand final of worst reviews ever ?

— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) February 15, 2021

Several users agreed with Warne.

“It was so bad that the ICC should keep a separate award for the worst review of the year. What did Root hear? Unravel the mystery,” one user wrote.

“Has to be, the ball was at least a foot away,” wrote another.

Promoted

“Yes, more than half a feet between bat and ball. In fact nobody looked animated, but took that funny…” another user wrote.

Ashwin stayed unbeaten on 34 at Lunch, having forged a nifty 50-run partnership with skipper Virat Kohli, who was batting on 38 at the end of the first session. India have a 351-run lead against England at Lunch, with four wickets to spare, and will look to extend their advantage as they try to square the series after losing the opener.