[Watch] Shubman Gill falls to a controversial decision as Green’s stunner touches the ground in WTC 2023 final

Team India opener Shubman Gill failed to deliver against Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at the Oval in London on Day 4, Saturday (June 10). This came after Cameron Green grabbed a stunning catch at the gully off Scott Boland to send him back after 18 runs.

The incident occurred during the eighth over of India’s second innings when Gill edged it in front of the gully. Green caught the ball but fell onto the ground with his hand apparently touching the ground. The third umpire was confident that “fingers were underneath the ball.”

For the uninitiated, there was no soft signal and the decision was immediately referred to the TV umpires since the ICC had abolished the soft signal rule for contentious catches as its revised playing conditions from June 1.

Thus, Gill had to walk back to the pavilion as India lost their first wicket for 41 while chasing a mammoth 444 in their fourth innings.

Watch the dismissal below:

What do the rules say?

According to the laws of cricket (33.2.2.1):

"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."

Interestingly, Shubman Gill was dismissed twice by Boland in the WTC final. The 23-year-old was bowled out by the lanky pacer in the first innings after scoring 13 runs.

---

Shubman Gill once again fails to deliver for Team India in the WTC final

With scores of 13 and 18, Shubman Gill once again failed to deliver for Team India in the WTC final. The right-handed batter had previously scored 28 and eight during the inaugural 2021 WTC final, where New Zealand beat India by eight wickets.

Gill’s failure with the bat came as a big surprise as he recently emerged as the leading run-scorer in IPL 2023. The opening batter amassed 890 runs in 17 games, including three centuries and four fifties for runners-up Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2023.

At the time of writing, Team India were 66/1 after 13 overs, with captain Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease.

Batting first, Australia scored 469, courtesy of tons from Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121).

In response, India replied with 296 as Ajinkya Rahane top scored with 89.

Later, Australia declared at 270/8 as Alex Carey starred with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 66.

Click here to follow the WTC 2023 final scores.