Green stands by catch as Gill adds to controversy

Cameron Green insists he had no doubts his day-four catch was clean, despite Shubman Gill pouring fuel on the fire of the controversial World Test Championship final incident and India criticising the third umpire's decision-making process.

The spectacle of Green's stunning one-handed catch off Gill in the showpiece Test was overshadowed by India doubling down on their captain Rohit Sharma's initial expression of disapproval of the ruling in Australia's favour.

Only fifteen minutes had elapsed after the close of play on Saturday before Gill tweeted two magnifying glasses and a facepalm emoji above a screenshot of a television replay of Green's low-down catch in the gully.

Fast bowler Mohammed Shami then suggested third umpire Richard Kettleborough had not properly analysed the catch in making his 'out' decision.

But Green was adamant he had taken it fairly.

"At the time I definitely thought I caught it," the allrounder told reporters at stumps with India still needing 280 runs to win with a day to play at The Oval.

"In the heat of the moment, I thought it was clean and threw it up and obviously showed no sign of any doubt basically. Then it's left up to the third umpire and he agreed."

Speaking to the BBC, Green added: "I know it looks a bit weird when you catch it in your fingers instead of your palm, but I knew I'd caught it straightaway … it was a pretty crucial one in the end."

Rohit, who had observed the catch from the non-striker's end, made no effort to hide his displeasure.

He let out a cry of frustration once the decision was confirmed before querying the on-field officials as the players walked off for the tea break.

The contentious dismissal had ended a rapid opening partnership that had seen Gill and Rohit blast 41 runs from the first seven overs in their unlikely fourth-innings pursuit of 444, opening the door for Australia to then make two more inroads before stumps.

Green, going full length to his left having taken another reflex snare going the other way off Ajinkya Rahane the previous day, took the second-innings grab above the turf before falling on his side and grounding the ball on the grass.

Image Id: EF011460C7B7410EAD89CD6AC1C6A69A Image Caption: Green's effort was ruled a fair catch by TV umpire Richard Kettleborough // Channel Seven

Kettleborough deemed that the 24-year-old had control of the ball with his index and middle fingers at that moment.

The experienced official, entrusted with complete autonomy to make the decision after the ICC's recent scrapping of the 'soft signal', eventually ruled in Australia's favour by deeming Green's catch to be clean following a lengthy deliberation over multiple replays.

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey told the BBC: "It looked good from where I was. I thought he caught it fair and square. He was pretty happy with it, so the right decision was made."

But Shami declared that Kettleborough had not taken enough time to come to his decision.

Image Id: 977BB80758414266816F4220DE805A5A Image Caption: Rohit and Gill react after the catch was given out by the TV umpire // Getty

"It's the World Test Championship final, not a normal match that you let go. It should have been checked better, zoomed in, but it's okay, it's part of the game," Shami said in comments translated from Hindi by the ICC.

The Laws of Cricket state "a catch will be fair if … the ball is held in the hand or hands of a fielder, even if the hand holding the ball is touching the ground".

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggested that part of the rule was relevant to Green's catch.

"I actually think some part of the ball did touch the ground and it is the interpretation of the umpire that as long as the fielder has complete control of the ball before the ball hits the ground then it is out," Ponting told the ICC.

"That must have been what the umpires' interpretation was and I think that is exactly what happened.

"It carried probably six or eight inches off the ground then there was another action after that … at the end of the day I think the correct decision has probably been made."

Television replays and photographs were subject to forensic analysis by fans, pundits and, eventually, Gill himself.

Image Id: D1446D6B8DED42939E9F9779F9E23FB6 Image Caption: Green's spectacular effort in the gully to dismiss Shubman Gill // Getty

The angle Gill included in his tweet may be misleading given Green was not standing level with the wicket table. Because the wicket table was closer to the camera used on that angle than Green, a two-dimensional screenshot does not accurately reflect where the ground is.

The overwhelmingly pro-India crowd at The Oval made their views on Green's catch clear.

"The Indian crowd are so passionate and obviously one of the favourite guys, Shubman Gill, got out and I think that's what they're all kind of looking forward to watching. It is what it is and we move on," Green said.

The catch was the first instance in a Test of a contentious grab being adjudicated solely the third umpire following the scrapping of the 'soft signal' regulations.

This is the second match (after the England-Ireland Test earlier this month) being played in which on-field umpires do not need to give an indication of whether they believed the catch was fair or not to the television umpire when referring it.

The previous system where umpires indicated to their television counterpart whether they believed it was out or not had been deemed "confusing and unnecessary" by the ICC.

World Test Championship Final

June 7-11: Australia v India, The Oval

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David Warner

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ishan Kishan (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat

Find out everything you need to know for the World Test Championship Final here