Former England pacer Stuart Broad has taken a sly dig at Australia A batter Marcus Harris, after the latter stood his ground despite edging a delivery to first slip on Day 2 of the ongoing second unofficial Test against India A. In the 43rd over of the Australia A innings, India A spinner Tanush Kotian managed to deceive Marcus Harris in flight, and as a result, the ball spun sharply past the edge of his bat, and landed safely into the hands of Devdutt Padikkal, who was positioned at first slip.
The Indian fielders appealed confidently, however, the entire camp was left shocked when the on-field official ruled Marcus Harris not out. The left-handed batter also remained unmoved at the crease.
Stuart Broad has now reacted to the video of this incident, which was shared by Cricket Australia. Commenting on the post, the pacer who took more than 600 Test wickets, wrote, “I’d have walked for that.”
Former India opening batter Aakash Chopra also reacted to the video, commenting, “How’s this Not-Out????”
It is important to mention that Broad commented on the post, after former Australia all-rounder Dan Christian tagged him in the comments section.
A similar incident had happened during an Ashes Test when Stuart Broad did not walk despite edging the ball to first slip off the bowling of Ashton Agar. Aleem Dar, who was the on-field umpire at that time, deemed Broad not-out.
What did Marcus Harris say about the incident
After the end of Day 2, Marcus Harris gave his take on the incident, and he was quoted by cricket.com.au as saying, “The boys said they watched the replays 20 times and couldn’t really tell (if it was out).”
“The god’s honest truth was I wasn’t sure. If they reviewed it and it showed I hit it and got caught, I would have gone, ‘Yep, fair enough’,” he added.
However, Tanush Kotian was not at all pleased with the entire incident. Taking to Instagram, he shared the video of the incident, and wrote, “Horrible.”
At the time of this incident, Marcus Harris was batting on 48. However, he went on to score a gritty 74, top-scoring for Australia A. He was eventually dismissed by Prasidh Krishna.
Australia A eventually posted 223 in their first innings, gaining a lead of 62 runs. The hosts are firmly on top at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after India A ended Day 2 at the score of 73/5 with Dhruv Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy at the crease. India A have extended their lead to 12 runs.
Marcus Harris is now emerging as a solid contender to partner Usman Khawaja up top for Australia in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
After the end of Day 2, Marcus Harris credited his Victoria coach Chris Rogers, for his advice on adapting to challenging conditions.
“It was probably something that ‘Bucky’ (Rogers) said … to the whole batting group at Victoria, just about if the wicket’s doing a little bit, you don’t always have to look to hit it for four. Look to hit it for two,” said Harris.
“I’ve definitely been able to keep the scoreboard ticking over a lot more than what I have (in the past), and maybe that’s just subconsciously not looking to hit the ball so hard,” he added.
