‘Nitin Menon making India proud’ – Fans laud Nitin Menon for his bold decision during 5th Ashes 2023 Test

The 2nd day of the ongoing 5th and final Test match of the Ashes 2023 series witnessed a top-class bowling effort from England. Australia started Day 2 with a score of 61/1. However, at the end of the 2nd day, there were bundled out for 295 runs and gained a small lead of 12 runs.

Meanwhile, the 2nd day saw a controversial incident in which Indian veteran umpire Nitin Menon was involved. The incident took place during the 3rd ball of the 78th over of Australia’s 1st innings when Steve Smith played a shot towards midwicket and sprinted for two runs.

However, England’s substitute fielder George Ealham got the ball and sent a rocket throw straight towards the wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, he dislodged the stumps as soon as the ball got into his gloves. But Menon, who is serving as the 3rd umpire of the match, decided to take his time and came up with a really bold decision.

Watch the video here:

Menon reviewed numerous replays and determined that Smith’s bat had left the crease by the time the bails were entirely removed from the stumps. The majority of the spectators at The Oval booed the decision, but it was clear from the slow-motion replays that Menon had made the right choice.

Looked pretty close at that stage: Steve Smith

Smith was batting on the score of 42 runs during the incident and ended up scoring 71 runs which included 6 fours. After the stumps on Day 2, Smith himself talked about the run-out incident and said that Bairstow knocked the bail before collecting the ball.

“I saw the initial replay and saw the bail come up, and when I looked at it the second time looked like Jonny might have knocked the bail before the ball had come. Looked pretty close at that stage, if the ball had hit at the initial stage when the bail came then think I was well out of my ground.” Smith said after the end of Day 2.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/rajputkvineet/status/1684958106655342592?s=20