For the second time in the day, an umpiring howler led to a batter’s wrong dismissal, this time when Sherfane Rutherford was ruled out caught behind despite a visible gap between bat and ball as it passed the bat.
Chasing 352 for a win in the third ODI, West Indies put up a stiff fightback against India. After opener John Campbell departed for 10 in the fifth over, Amir Jangoo and Shai Hope got together, taking the score to 150 in just 20.3 overs. Jangoo was run out by a direct throw from Virat Kohli for 67, but Hope carried on, getting to his 21st hundred as the pressure piled on the hosts.
Sherfane Rutherford and Hope added 56 runs for the third wicket, taking West Indies closer to the target. They needed 146 runs from 121 balls and looked all set for their first win on the tour, but a controversial decision sent Rutherford back just as the partnership was starting to build.
Naman Dhir sent down a length ball around the fourth stump that turned away slightly. Rutherford leaned in, opened the face of the bat and looked to push it towards the off side. However, he was unable to do so, seemingly getting a faint edge through to wicketkeeper KL Rahul. India went up in appeal, and the decision was referred to the TV umpire.
Replays showed a spike just as the ball was next to the bat, but on closer inspection, it appeared that the bat was also brushing against Rutherford’s back pad at the same time. There also seemed to be a small gap between the bat and ball, but TV umpire Sharfuddoula concluded that the spike was caused by the ball hitting the bat. He upheld the on-field decision of out, prompting a furious reaction from the West Indies camp, with Rutherford also involved in an animated exchange with the umpires.
Fans on X also pointed out the apparent error, with former cricketer Aakash Chopra suggesting it was “not out” and that the spike was caused by “bat on pad”.
That was Not Out. Bat on pad. #Rutherford
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 3, 2026
Sherfane Rutherford was not out. I don’t know how the TV umpire ‘didn’t see’ any gap between the ball and the edge of the bat - while all of us on the same TV saw clearly there was a gap.
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 3, 2026
The snicko was of the bat hitting the pad.
Bad decision #IndvsWI
The dismissal affected West Indies’ run rate, as they managed only 18 runs in the next three overs, but Keemo Paul and Hope slowly steadied the innings.
It was not the first time today that a batter had been left furious by an umpiring decision. In the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Asian Games bronze-medal match earlier in the day, Sri Lanka batter Nuwanidu Fernando was dismissed similarly when Nitin Menon ruled him out despite a clear gap between the bat and ball.
West Indies reached 273-4 in 41 overs, needing 79 runs from 54 balls at the time of writing.
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