Vaibhav Suryavanshi found himself at the center of yet another conversation on Wednesday after India A opener against Afghanistan A fell foul of a controversial third umpire call during the 5th match of the tri-nation series in Sri Lanka.The 15-year-old, who has endured a mediocre series so far, was given a reprieve when Faridoon Dawoodzai pulled off a brilliant one-handed catch at point off Shamsur Rahman. While the dismissal looked clear in real time, the third umpire ruled that part of the ball had touched the ground during the completion of the catch, allowing Suryavanshi to continue. On replay, the third umpire asked for repeated frame-by-frame replays before concluding that there was evidence of the ball brushing the turf.“Part of the ball is touching the ground, I decided,” said the umpire before the green light flashed, much to the disbelief of the Afghanistan players.The decision immediately sparked a debate on social media, with fans divided over whether the young man was a lucky survivor.“How is this catch not fair? It was as clean as they come. Suryavanshi is lucky here,” one user wrote.Another said, “I thought it was over, but Suryavanshi got a life, now make it big.”“Really lucky to get away with that call. The evidence of the ball being grass was very blurry and unclear,” another fan posted.However, some pointed out that the third umpire had gone by the available evidence and the batsman had benefited from the doubt.Ironically, this was not the only piece of luck for Suryavanshi. Shortly after surviving a controversial catch, the left-hander was dropped again, after which he got his second relief.The youngster finally got out in the 8th over after scoring 38 runs off 28 balls which included two sixes and four fours. He made a mistake off Faridoon Dawoodzai and was caught by Khalid Taniwal at cover point. He ended an opening stand of 75 runs with Priyansh Arya. The latest incident comes days after India A was involved in a heated exchange with Sri Lanka’s Vaishan Halamba during their previous game, where the two players had to be separated following a shoving incident. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia later urged the players to focus on the game and avoid “collateral issues”.Despite the attention around him, Suryavanshi has struggled to make a significant impact with the bat in the series, with his twin escapes against Afghanistan A being the most notable. On the back of a stellar IPL 2026 campaign and earning his first Indian call-up, the left-handed opener has scored 14, 44 and 21 in the series so far.
