Paul Hawkins puts end to controversy surrounding Joe Root's LBW

Paul Hawkins, the founder of HawkEye technology, which is used for ball-tracking in the Decision Review System in cricket, downplayed the controversy surrounding Joe Root's LBW in the second innings of the recently ended Test match between India and England in Ranchi. Hawkins stated that he did not doubt that third umpire Joel Wilson made the correct decision by not turning on-field umpire Kumar Dharmasena's call.

Paul Hawkins stated the difference between the use of HawEye technology which is used in tennis and cricket. He added that Joe Root’s LBW call gives them scope to learn more and improve the visual aspect of the ball-tracking system.

It happened in the 17th over of the Test match in England’s second innings in Ranchi when Ravichandran Ashwin trapped Joe Root in front of the stumps. The on-field umpire first gave not-out as he believed the ball was pitching outside leg stump. But India captain Rohit Sharma took the review and in DRS the ball-tracking system showed the ball was sightly pitching inside the line of the stump the review went in India’s side as Joe Root was dismissed on 11 runs.

“So, firstly, you measure the width of the stumps on each day. So that then becomes the line between what's pitched in line and what's not pitched in line. And it was a very close one. It's one that in tennis, you will occasionally get a 0 or 0 scenario and tennis have decided that it's not out until it's not 0. Mm, it's 1. So actually, in tennis, we shift the bounce mark just for a presentation perspective. So a 0 becomes a 1, so you can clearly see the mark. But that's just a presentation thing,” Hawkins said.

India won the Test match against England

As per the laws, we gave the right answer. But we failed in the ability to not be the story and perhaps there's a learning opportunity to improve our presentation and stuff to make those really close ones slightly clearer," he added.

 Former England captain Michael Vaughan and fast bowler Steve Harmison expressed their disbelief, claiming that the ball may have been pitched outside the leg-stump line. Vaughan, in a now-deleted post, questioned the technology's dependability, reflecting a widespread sense of scepticism among the English cricket community.

India have won the fourth Test match in Ranchi by five wickets. With this win, India sit on second spots in the World Test Championship (WTC). India now leads the five-match Test series by 3-1. The fifth match will take place in HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. Meanwhile, England are second last in the WTC points table. In this WTC cycle, England played 9 Test matches and won 3 and lost 9 and 1 draw. While India has played 8 Test matches out of which 5 came in wins 2 in losses and 1 in draws.