Virat Kohli unknowingly gives Matthew Wade a lifeline, makes a late DRS appeal

Australia's stand-in captain Matthew Wade got a lifeline during the third and final T20I against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday. Wade got a chance to prolong his stay in the middle courtesy of a late DRS call from his Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Matthew Wade gets a lifeline

Wade had once again promoted himself up the order as a pinch-hitter to open the innings for Australia like he had done in the previous match. He attacked the Indian bowlers right from the beginning as he looked in sublime form. However, the southpaw's stay could have cut short had Kohli gone for a DRS appeal early during the 11th over of the first innings.

It so happened that the left-handed batsman was caught plumb in front of the wicket by yorker specialist Natarajan and made an LBW appeal instantly but, the on-field umpire was not at all convinced and even he did not receive much support from his team-mates either with regards to appealing. Even stumper KL Rahul had no clue where the ball had pitched and so did Virat who was standing at the boundary. 

Nonetheless, the Indian captain decided to get the decision reviewed but his opposite number reminded him that he had asked for a review after the 15-second timeframe as a result of which it could not be taken and Wade got a huge lifeline.
As per the guidelines, the captains are given a timeframe of 15 seconds to decide whether they want to get a particular decision reviewed or not and they cannot ask for a review after 15 seconds.

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Wade makes the most of his lifeline

Wade did make the Indians pay after their captain had unknowingly suffered a brain-fade moment on the field by making his bat do the talking. He scored a quickfire 53-ball 80 at a strike rate of nearly 151 including seven boundaries and a couple of maximums.

A solid knock of a 36-ball 53 from Glenn Maxwell in the middle-order helped Australia post a competitive score of 186/5 from their overs after being put into bat by the visiting skipper Virat Kohli. 

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(Image Courtesy: ICC Twitter)