Rohit Sharma edged Josh Hazlewood to Brad Haddin during the 2014 Boxing Day Test — UltraEdge showed a spike but its timing was disputed between genuine edge and ground vibration. Umpire Rod Tucker gave it not out; Australia reviewed but inconclusive evidence left the decision standing. Rohit scored 99 in an innings that helped India draw the match.
The 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was played in the shadow of a transformed Australian side following the retirement of several greats and the shocking death of Phillip Hughes just weeks before the series. Australia had rebuilt around a new generation of fast bowlers — Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Johnson — who combined hostility with accuracy in a way that had already dismantled many batting line-ups. The series was a genuine examination of India's resolve against pace.
India, under MS Dhoni's captaincy in what would prove to be his final Test series as skipper in Australia, were without several key players and facing an Australian attack at full power on pitches that assisted pace and bounce. The Boxing Day Test at the MCG was always a set-piece event — one of the great occasions in the cricket calendar, with crowds in the tens of thousands creating a cauldron of noise and expectation. Australia entered the match having won the first two Tests, putting India under immense pressure.
Rohit Sharma was a relatively new Test batsman at this point. His white-ball credentials were impeccable, but his Test career had been inconsistent, marked by flashes of genius against pace and troubling vulnerability outside off stump. The Boxing Day Test was an opportunity for Rohit to confirm his Test credentials against the world's best pace attack, on one of the world's most demanding fast-bowling tracks. What followed was a performance that became one of the centrepieces of the series — and a DRS controversy that Australia felt had cost them a decisive moment.
India were set a large first-innings deficit and needed a significant second-innings contribution to give themselves any chance of drawing the match. Their top order had struggled against Johnson's pace and hostility, and Hazlewood and Starc had provided relentless support from both ends. When Rohit came to the crease, India needed consolidation and resistance rather than aggression.
Hazlewood, bowling with sharp movement and good length, was among Australia's most testing bowlers in this phase. He was extracting life from the MCG surface and troubling batsmen with deliveries that nipped off the seam or swung late. When he appealed for caught behind against Rohit, the fielders around the bat went up immediately — wicketkeeper Brad Haddin going up with particular conviction. Umpire Rod Tucker assessed the appeal and gave it not out.
Australia exercised their DRS review. The UltraEdge system, which uses sound technology to detect edges, showed a spike on the graphic. But the timing of the spike was disputed — was it occurring at the precise moment the ball passed the bat face, indicating a genuine edge? Or was it a fraction later, suggesting ground vibration transmitted up through Rohit's feet and the pitch? This ambiguity placed the decision in genuinely contested technological territory, and the third umpire, following the protocol that inconclusive evidence defaults to the on-field decision, upheld Tucker's not-out.
The caught-behind appeal off Hazlewood was one of the most debated DRS moments of the 2014-15 Australian summer. Rohit Sharma was struck on the bat — or near it — by a delivery from Josh Hazlewood that carried through to Brad Haddin behind the stumps. Haddin claimed the catch with confidence; Hazlewood wheeled away in celebration before being recalled by the umpire's not-out signal.
UltraEdge, the audio-visual technology used to supplement Hot Spot in detecting edges, showed a spike at around the time the ball passed the bat. The critical question was one of timing — in the most literal sense, a matter of fractions of a second. Cricket DRS protocol requires the third umpire to assess whether the spike is synchronised with the moment of bat-ball proximity. If it is precisely aligned, it suggests genuine contact. If there is even a small discrepancy, the possibility of ground vibration cannot be excluded.
The third umpire's analysis concluded that the evidence was insufficiently conclusive to overturn the not-out decision. Rod Tucker's decision stood. Australia had used their review, which was now lost. Rohit batted on, and the reprieve proved enormously significant.
Rohit Sharma went on to score 99 — one short of a century, a number that became deeply frustrating in its own right when he was eventually dismissed. His innings occupied India's batting for a critical period, consuming overs and runs in a way that allowed India to set the match up as a draw. Australia's bowlers, who had been largely dominant in the series, were unable to remove him despite believing they had their chance at the crucial moment when UltraEdge suggested an edge.
Josh Hazlewood generates sharp movement to draw Rohit into a drive — Haddin takes a catch behind the stumps
Umpire Rod Tucker gives it not out — Australia review immediately
UltraEdge shows a spike, but timing is disputed — ground vibration cannot be ruled out
Third umpire upholds not-out; Australia lose their review at a pivotal moment
Rohit Sharma bats on to score 99 — a near-century that helps India draw the Boxing Day Test
Australia's pace attack, so dominant in the series, denied a wicket that could have changed the match's direction
Day 1 (Boxing Day)
Australia bat first at MCG — huge Boxing Day crowd; India's bowlers work hard for every wicket
Day 2
India's first innings collapses — Johnson and Hazlewood extract pace and bounce; India trail significantly
Day 3
India's second innings — Rohit comes to the crease with India needing to bat time
Day 3 (key moment)
Hazlewood appeals for caught behind — Tucker gives not out; Australia review — UltraEdge spike disputed; not-out upheld
Day 4
Rohit continues to 99 before being dismissed — India bat through much of the day
Day 5
India successfully draw the Boxing Day Test — Rohit's innings the centrepiece of their resistance
“The spike is there on UltraEdge. I don't know how much more evidence you need. We felt genuinely robbed of that wicket.”
“DRS is supposed to eliminate howlers. When technology gives you a spike and the decision stays not out, you have to question the process.”
“Rohit played magnificently. Whether the technology was right or wrong on that one moment, what he did with the opportunity was outstanding.”
“I was just trying to play my natural game. When you're given not out you bat on. That's the rule of cricket.”
Australia's frustration with the DRS decision was palpable. Captain Michael Clarke, never one to conceal his emotions on the field, was visibly unhappy. The Australians felt that UltraEdge's spike was clear enough evidence of an edge, and that the protocol's requirement for definitiveness had been applied too conservatively. Post-match, the Australian media subjected the decision to extensive analysis, with several cricket technology experts offering conflicting views on whether the spike represented bat contact or ground vibration.
India drew the Boxing Day Test — a result that, given the series context, was an achievement of real note. Rohit's 99 was central to that draw, and the caught-behind controversy was necessarily part of its story. India's captain MS Dhoni acknowledged the DRS decision but declined to comment in detail, a restraint that contrasted with the Australian camp's more open frustration.
The incident contributed to an ongoing conversation about UltraEdge's reliability in detecting edges versus ground vibration. Cricket's governing bodies subsequently worked with technology providers to refine the synchronisation thresholds used in caught-behind reviews, acknowledging that the system had limitations in precisely this kind of marginal case.
Third umpire upheld Rod Tucker's not-out decision after UltraEdge showed a spike with disputed timing. The evidence was deemed insufficiently conclusive to overturn the on-field call under DRS protocols. Rohit Sharma batted on to score 99 in an innings that helped India draw the match. The decision remains one of the most analysed caught-behind DRS controversies in Australian cricket history.
The Rohit Sharma Boxing Day reprieve became one of the canonical examples used in debates about DRS's limitations. UltraEdge — reliable in most cases — had a specific vulnerability in caught-behind scenarios where ground vibration could produce spikes that mimicked edge signatures. The incident was repeatedly cited in ICC reviews of DRS protocols and contributed to refinements in how synchronisation thresholds were assessed.
For Rohit Sharma, the innings — reprieve and near-century included — was a statement of his Test capabilities. He had shown he could occupy the crease against the world's best fast bowling attack on a fast track, contribute significantly to a draw in a difficult series, and handle the pressure of a high-stakes review situation. The 99 became a story in itself — the runs he scored without the century — but the broader narrative of his resistance at the MCG was one of the highlights of his Test career in that era.
Australia vs New Zealand
1 February 1981
Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl the last ball underarm along the ground to prevent New Zealand from hitting a six to tie the match.
Australia vs India
7 February 1981
Sunil Gavaskar was given out LBW to Dennis Lillee off a ball that clearly hit his bat first. He was so furious he tried to take his batting partner Chetan Chauhan off the field with him.
Australia vs India
2-6 January 2008
One of the most controversial Tests ever — terrible umpiring decisions, racial abuse allegations, and India threatening to abandon the tour.