Explained: What is soft signal in cricket?

Suryakumar Yadav scored his maiden T20I half-century during India’s fourth T20I against England at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium but had to walk back to the pavilion due to a weak signal.

The top-order hitter struck Sam Curran for a long shot, but Dawid Malan scooped it up for a catch. The on-field umpire ruled it out at first but referred it to the third umpire after the ball looked to graze the ground under Malan’s grip.

Because the TV evidence was inconclusive, the batter was discharged due to a “soft signal.”

Advertisement

What is soft signal in cricket?

Previously, anytime there was a close call during a match, like as a close catch, the on-field umpires had to make a judgement based on their intuition. The umpire had ruled in Suryakumar Yadav’s favor. That intuition is referred to as a soft signal.

Advertisement

Essentially, the field umpire must make a decision before reporting it to the third umpire. If the incident was contested, the TV umpire examined it from every angle imaginable and in slow motion to reach a decision. However, if the TV umpire was unable to reach a conclusion, the soft signal decision given by the on-field umpire was upheld.

Only conclusive proof could be used to overturn the soft signal rule in cricket. Several questions were raised during Suryakumar Yadav’s dismissal as to whether the ball had actually touched the ground or not. To put it another way, there was no way to uncover definitive evidence that the ball had actually hit the ground.

Because of the ambiguity of umpires’ soft signal choices in cricket, there have been various discussions about why the soft signal arose in the first place. When the decision to refer was made, the footage provided was a two-dimensional image, which is why the umpires requested side views.

Also Read: Why Are MS Dhoni And Candy Crush Trending Together On Social Media? (cricfiles.com)

Advertisement