India vs England, 3rd T20I: Under-fire Shamshuddin pulls out as on-field umpire citing fitness issues

Bangalore: Controversial umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin on Wednesday withdrew as one of the on-field officials just before the start of the final Twenty20 international between India and England in Bangalore.

Shamshuddin, who infuriated England by giving Joe Root out lbw in the previous game when replays showed he got a thick inside edge, cited fitness issues for sitting out the series decider.

The 46-year-old, who has stood in 11 T20I, will be performing the third umpire’s duties while his compatriot Nitin Menon will stand alongside Anil Chaudhary.

England skipper Eoin Morgan expressed “extreme frustration” at Shamshuddin giving Root out in the final over, bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, in Nagpur on Sunday when India scraped to a five-run victory over the tourists.

Shamshuddin also turned down an England lbw appeal against Indian skipper Virat Kohli in Nagpur. Replays later showed the ball would have hit the middle and off stumps.

Root, the batsman at the centre of all the controversy, however, chose to play down the umpiring howler, saying it would not be right to single out any one umpire for his mistakes.

“I never had any problems with umpires in any game. As a player you can commit mistakes and you can get things wrong, and as an umpire it is exactly the same. It will not be right to single any man as an umpire,” he told reporters on the eve of the third and final T20I against India at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

Root, however, said had it been a semi-final match of a big-ticket tournament then they would have been disappointed.

“If it had been a semi-final and we could not make it to the final due to a decision we would feel bit disappointed as we have to live with it in the aftermath,” said the 26-year old.

Bumrah, who was the lucky bowler getting the crucial wicket of Root of the final over of the match, also refused to read too much into the umpiring controversy, and said, “We don’t focus too much on decisions made by umpires. Sometimes it (umpiring decision) goes in our favour and sometimes in their favour. That happens in cricket, so we have to move on with the game.”