After a memorable hundred by Nitish Kumar Reddy, India managed to score 358/9 at the close of play on day three of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test in Melbourne. After that, the Australian bowlers didn’t take much time to wrap up the Indian innings at the start of day four as the visitors got bowled out for 369 runs, trailing by 105 runs in the first innings. However, an incident just prior to the end of the Indian innings gave former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan no choice but to take a dig at the Australian side, while mentioning the 2007-08 BGT.
During the last ball of the 119th over, Pat Cummins bowled a cracking yorker towards Mohammed Siraj. The ball found the outer half of the bat and went towards Steve Smith, who made no mistake in grabbing the ball at slips. It led to the Australian players started walking towards the pavilion. However, the on-field umpire called for a review to confirm the catch. After which, the third umpire determined that the ball had touched the ground after hitting the bottom edge of the bat before it went towards the fielder, allowing Mohammed Siraj to continue his innings.
Irfan Pathan takes cheeky dig on Pat Cummins asking for DRS on umpire’s review
However, the Australian skipper Pat Cummins wasn’t satisfied with the decision, and signalled asking for DRS on a decision made by the third umpire on review from the on-field umpire. Reacting to this, Irfan Pathan who at the commentary panel at this time was quoted as saying “Australia ko lag raha hai ye 2008 hai. Nahi nahi 2008 nahi hai yeh (Australia is thinking that this is 2008. No, this is not 2008).”
Notably, during the Sydney Test match between Australia and India in 2007-08 BGT, the umpires weren't quite at their best as the Australian side registered a last gasp win against India, following which many accused the hosts of colluding with the officials. With his comments, Pathan reminded fans of the same match.
