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Shubman Gill angry at Sri Lanka. Image Credits: AFP/X
Shubman Gill has been leading the Men in Blue in Sri Lanka in the ongoing two-match Test series, and it has rarely happened that he has been caught off guard on the field during his stint as captain.
However, when Sonal Dinusha, an all-rounder from Sri Lanka, became a headache for India and was offered a lifeline by the umpires, it left Gill frozen in disbelief.
After India gained a massive advantage over the hosts in the Colombo Test, Dinusha bagged a century on Day 4 to help Sri Lanka reach 290 before being bowled out in the first session.
India had piled up 503 runs before, leaving Sri Lanka trailing by 213 runs and the consistent chaos named Sonal Dinusha.
Shubman Gill freezes as third umpire saves Sonal Dinusha's wicket
During the 85th over, Dinusha was batting on 85 off 137 deliveries when he faced Saransh Jain, the debutant for the Men in Blue. He was almost sent back to the pavilion on the third ball.
Jain delivered a full-length ball on middle stump and drifted it at 85.2 kph. As Sonal attempted to sweep, he mistimed the shot and was beaten on the outside edge as the ball struck his thigh pad.
The entire Indian team made a loud appeal for LBW, and the umpire raised his finger. However, Sonal was quick to review the decision.
The DRS showed that there was no bat involved, and the camera panned towards Shubman Gill and the players surrounding him as they waited anxiously for the outcome of the review.
Watch the video below:
However, when the ball-tracking came up, it showed that the delivery would have missed the stumps, with the ball passing over the top of the timbers.
As soon as the decision appeared on the screen, Gill and his teammates were left bamboozled. While Saransh Jain and Prasidh Krishna quickly moved on, Shubman Gill remained frozen in disbelief at the decision made by the third umpire.
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Was the LBW decision for Sonal Dinusha wrong?
Technically, the DRS review was sound, as there is very little chance of an error when tracking the ball and determining its trajectory. While many believe that ball-tracking technology is essentially predictive and can therefore go wrong, six or more cameras are placed around the ground to record a delivery from different angles.
After capturing the video at high frame rates to track the ball, triangulation is used, with the camera feeds combined to calculate the exact spatial coordinates of the ball in every frame. A computer then takes this coordinate data and feeds it into a physics-based 3D model to project the ball's trajectory from the point where it pitched to where it struck the batter's pad and beyond.
Hence, in this case, Saransh Jain's delivery pitched in line and had a solid impact zone. However, the spin on the ball, combined with the considerable bounce generated from the pitch, helped Dinusha survive the DRS review and save his century.
Sonal Dinusha creates trouble after being saved
Dinusha became a major source of trouble for India after being given a lifeline by DRS. Batting on 85 at the time, Dinusha went on to complete his century before being dismissed by Saransh Jain in the 90th over.
His century helped Sri Lanka reach 290, but they could not avoid the follow-on, falling 14 runs short of India's total. Immediately after the innings break, Shubman Gill enforced the follow-on as Sri Lanka trailed by 213 runs.
Interestingly, Dinusha has also emerged as a strong prospect for Sri Lanka. After playing just four Test matches for the team, he has already become Sri Lanka's leading Test run-scorer in 2026, with 462 runs at an average of 77.00 and a strike rate of 61.27.
In the India series alone, Sonal Dinusha has scored two centuries in two matches and has also taken three wickets from the 75 overs he has bowled in the ongoing series.
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