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‘Ball was on the ground’: Ex-cricketer baffled as Dhruv Jurel catch sparks controversy

Dhruv Jurel's unbeaten 115 powered India to a commanding position, but a contentious catch decision overshadowed day four as India need six wickets on the final day to seal the series against Sri Lanka.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 1 article Version 1 Coverage Aug 24, 2026 Published 1d ago

Jurel century, controversial catch put India on brink of series win over Sri Lanka

India are within touching distance of a series-clinching victory after a dominant display against Sri Lanka, but a contentious catch decision has sparked debate. Dhruv Jurel's unbeaten 115, his second Test hundred, powered India to a commanding first-innings total of 9-503 declared, setting up a formidable target. However, the fourth day's play was overshadowed by a third-umpire decision that went against the hosts.

The Catch Controversy

The flashpoint came in the 22nd over of Sri Lanka's second innings when wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel completed a low catch to dismiss opener Lahiru Udara. The soft-signal call was referred to third umpire Raveendra Wimalasiri, who ruled Udara out despite doubts about whether the ball had touched the ground.

Udara, who had made 16 off 58 balls, appeared reluctant to leave the crease. Former Sri Lanka batter Russel Arnold, commentating at the time, was not convinced the catch was clean. "It's been pushed along the ground for a bit. The ball was pushed along the ground. You can see, it was pushed along. When you look at that slow-motion replay, it seems that the fingers were pushed back and the front of the ball was touching the ground," Arnold said on air. "For me, the ball is on the ground there. The fingers are behind the ball," he added.

India Dominate Despite Rain

Despite the controversy, India's position of strength was built on a solid team effort. Jurel anchored the innings with nine fours and two sixes, sharing a vital 112-run partnership with Rishabh Pant, who scored 63 before falling to Nuwantha Keshara. Manav Suthar also chipped in with a quickfire cameo before India declared.

Rain and bad light disrupted play, but India made early inroads with the ball. Yashasvi Jaiswal took a brilliant catch at third slip to dismiss Udara, and Suthar trapped Prabath Jayasuriya lbw in his first over. Sri Lanka closed the day on 84/4, still 288 runs behind India's total.

Series Context and What's Next

India need six more wickets on the final day to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, with rain forecast for the final day. Rishabh Pant also became the first Asian batter to hit 100 sixes in Test cricket during his innings.

The two teams are also playing for more than just the series, with both sides fined players earlier in the match for an on-field altercation. Jaiswal and Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando were fined 25 per cent of their match fees and received demerit points for their involvement in the incident on Sunday.

How this outlet told it

Hindustan Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC

Framing: Headline emphasizes Sri Lankan frustration and the umpires' decision, framing the event as emotional conflict and India's opportunistic gain. — Dramatic and confrontational, e.g., 'flung his gloves', 'miffed at the umpires'.

Facts Included:

Sri Lanka were unhappy with umpires' decision to continue play in fading light
Prabath Jayasuriya was trapped lbw by Manav Suthar in the final over of the day
On-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Shardul Thakur took a light reading but deemed play acceptable with spinners bowling
Jayasuriya flung his gloves in the dressing room; commentators described Sri Lanka as 'disgruntled'
Quote from commentary: 'there is steam coming out of his ears'
Sri Lanka ended Day 2 at 8/2, trailing by 495 runs
India declared at 503/9; Jurel was top scorer; Padikkal also scored a century
Asitha Fernando was Sri Lanka's top bowler with four wickets
Rain caused a halt of more than an hour on Day 2
India leads the series after winning the first Test
Mention of Yashasvi Jaiswal being fined by ICC

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What was claimed, and who backed it

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimIndia reduced Sri Lanka to 8/2 in three overs before bad light brought early stumps on Day Two of the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimIndia declared its first innings at 503/9 after a rain delay of two hours and ten minutes.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimDhruv Jurel scored an unbeaten 115, his second Test century and first in Sri Lanka.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimPrasidh Krishna took 1-1 and Manav Suthar took 1-6 for India.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimKrishna dismissed Lahiru Udara, caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal at gully.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimSuthar dismissed nightwatchman Prabath Jayasuriya lbw, confirmed on review.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimJayasuriya flung his gloves away upon reaching the dressing room.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC
ClaimJurel celebrated his century by raising his sleeve to display a tattoo reading 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC
ClaimBrief scores: India 503/9 in 138 overs; Sri Lanka 8/2 in three overs.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusMulti-source (2 outlets) via Lokmat Times as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:17 PM UTC, PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimRishabh Pant reached a half-century (63) before being dismissed.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC
ClaimYashasvi Jaiswal and Sri Lanka's Asitha Fernando were fined 25 percent of their match fees and received one demerit point each for an on-field altercation on Sunday.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via PerthNow as of Aug 24, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

2 outlets · 2 articles consulted: PerthNow, The Times of India 22 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-24