Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that umpires around the world do not look for front-foot no-balls any more, which he thinks is wrong and detrimental to the bowling team.
Ponting made his observations after Australia opener Aaron Finch was given out by umpire Kumar Dharmasena but then reviewed the decision. Replays then showed that India pacer Ishant Sharma had overstepped.
The broadcaster then showed that Ishant had regularly overstepped during his spell, but the on-field umpires had not signalled a no-ball for any of them.
“I’ve said this for a lot of years – I honestly don’t think the umpires look at the front line anymore,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.
“Some of the ones we’ve seen today...he was four or six inches over the line.
“I don’t think the umpires are looking and I certainly don’t think they were looking at those ones because they were blatantly obvious ones.
“And as we know now, they’ll only ever look at them if a wicket falls, which as far as I’m concerned is not right.
“Part of umpiring is to get the no-ball decisions right as well. I’m not asking for everything to be spot on, but if you’re six inches over then surely you can call it.”
Ponting also said that the fielding captains should want to know how often their bowlers overstep.
“If I was Virat Kohli and I knew that my bowler was bowling a no-ball more often than not, I’d want to know that so I could pull that back in line,” he said.
The former Australia captain is hopeful that the Ishant replays would bring the matter back into focus.
“We can see it in the commentary box in a manner of seconds so surely the third umpire can see the same images that we can see,” Ponting said.
“I’m interested to know, now that it’s been highlighted, just what happens from here,” he added.