Legendary West Indies opener Chris Gayle became a victim of poor umpiring during their second match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 against Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on Thursday.
In a dramatic initial part of the Windies innings, Gayle successfully reviewed two decisions against umpire Chris Gaffaney, who ruled the left-handed batsman out caught behind and leg before.
In the first instance, the ball hit the wicket but the bails remain stuck in the groove. Gayle right away challenged. That happened off the fifth ball of the third over, bowled by Mitchell Starc.
The very next legal delivery, Gaffaney raised his finger again, this time for an LBW, only to see Gayle winning the review again.
Gayle was forced to walk in the fifth over, given out LBW off Starc. Gayle did take the review, but it returned as umpire's call with the ball. But what's disappointing in that play was that he was given out on a free hit. Starc clearly overstepped in his previous delivery, but Gaffaney missed the call it.
Soon 'Gayle' became one of the top trending topics in Twitter, with thousands of fans coming out in support of the fallen cricketer.
Here are some reactions, many of which have screengrabs of the errant foot.
Meanwhile, Gayle became the third West Indian and 18th batsman overall to complete 1000 runs in World Cup. Viv Richards was the first batsman to achieve this feat in 1987 World Cup while India’s Sachin Tendulkar with 2278 runs in 45 matches is the highest run-getter in this mega event.
Gayle made 21 off 17 with the help of four fours.
Chasing a target of 289, Windies were 93/2 after 18 overs.
