One of the 11 ICC (International Cricket Council) Elite Panel umpires, umpire Nitin Menon registered a horrendous session of Test cricket to kick-start the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test between India and Australia at Holkar Stadium.
It was in the first over of the match when Menon provided not one but two reprieves to India captain Rohit Sharma (12). Playing his first international match since last year’s Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc managed to dismiss Sharma twice in his first over only for the umpire to think of the otherwise.
It was on the first ball itself when Sharma had edged a delivery to Australia wicket-keeper Alex Carey but neither Menon heard the nick nor Australia captain Steven Smith opted to challenge him. Starc then found Sharma wanting in front of the stumps only to witness a repeat of both the situations.
Menon, who ruled India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (4), out lbw off a played ball a delivery before his eventual dismissal, erred for the fourth time in the morning session on the back of not ruling India wicket-keeper Srikar Bharat (17) out lbw against Nathan Lyon.
However, with Smith challenging Menon on this particular occasion, third umpire Richard Kettleborough didn’t think a lot before overturning the on-field umpire’s decision.
Twitter accuse Nitin Menon umpire of favouring Rohit Sharma in Indore Test
Menon, who had wrongly declared former India captain Virat Kohli out in the second Test in Delhi last month, found himself among memes on social media platform Twitter as users of the application accused him of favouring Sharma over Kohli. Although jokingly, several tweets hinted at how Menon would’ve raised his finger even in the absence of an appeal had Kohli been batting in front of him.
Readers must note that the above reactions are merely for the purpose of amusement. Although Menon hasn’t had the best of series as an umpire, there’s a reason why he’s part of ICC’s Elite Panel. Hence, one really hopes that the 39-year old player officiates according to his potential.