Umpire Chettithody Shamshuddin did not do duty as an on-field umpire for the third India-England T20I, held here on Wednesday. Shamshuddin — originally marked to take charge alongside Anil Chaudhary — donned the role of the third umpire, instead. Nitin Menon replaced Shamshuddin.
Shamshuddin came under fire after he gave a couple of contentious decisions in the second T20 staged at Nagpur on Sunday. This had led England captain Eoin Morgan and batsman Joe Root to appeal to the ICC to introduce the DRS system in T20Is also. The reason for this late swap is not immediately known.
On Tuesday, Root was asked if he had any objections to Shamshuddin officiating at Bengaluru, as one of the on-field umpires. Root replied, “I have no problem with him umpiring any of our future games.”
As a player you’re going to make mistakes, and as an umpire you’re going to do exactly the same. I don’t think it would be right to single him out as a person at fault.”
The England batsman, however, mentioned that “there were decisions throughout the game that went against us”.
At the end of the Nagpur match, Morgan had stated that Shamshuddin’s lbw decision against Root turned the momentum against England. “There is extreme frustration,” Morgan had said.
