'Nitin Menon loves everyone except Kohli': Ashes umpire shown no mercy by Indian fans after Smith non-dismissal call

It has been an exciting and riveting Ashes contest, as it has always been through the centuries, filled with close battles, dramatic turnarounds and few contentious calls which sparked arguments on both sides. On Friday, on the second evening of the fifth and final Test match at the Kennington Oval in London, viewers witnessed another of those as third umpire Nitin Menon took a tough call against the appeal from the England team to grant Steve Smith a lifeline in Australia's first-innings chase. While most hailed the umpire for the call, Indian fans took a cheeky “Virat Kohli” dig at him.

In the 78th over of Australia's first innings, Smith pushed the delivery from Chris Woakes towards square leg and immediately took off for two runs. However, substitute fielder George Ealham sprinted in from the boundary rope to throw the call towards England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who dislodged the bails at the striker's end in time before a diving Smith could make it back.

First look at the replay from the third umpire showed Smith's knock had ended as the former Australia skipper was more than halfway down to the pavilion. But a different angle revealed that Bairstow had dislodged one of the bails even before he collected the ball. After going through the footage several times, Menon eventually gave his verdict as not out as Smith walked back towards the middle.

Most on Twitter applauded the Indian umpire for the tough call he took, but a section of fans showed no mercy to Menon as they took a cheeky dig at him with Kohli reminders.

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There have been several instances when Kohli was adjudged out by Menon under controversial circumstances, sparking a debate on social media each time. In fact, during the Border-Gavaskar series at home in March, Kohli had roasted him after Travis Head had survived a review call from India during the 4th Test. The former India skipper then walked up to the umpire and jokingly said: "Mai hota to out tha (Would have been out if I was the batter)". Menon couldn't help but smile and immediately responded by raising his finger.

Smith was eventually dismissed by Woakes in the 90th over for 71 off 123. Australia also managed to take a lead, only by a slender margin of 12 runs as they were folded for 295 runs at the close of Day 2.