ENG vs NZ 2026: Kumar Sangakkara lambasts Mitchell Santner's controversial dismissal at Trent Bridge

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has lambasted the DRS call surrounding Mitchell Santner's dismissal in the third Test at Trent Bridge between England and New Zealand.

Santner, fending off a bouncer from Ben Stokes, saw the ball hit his arm and bounce up to Jacob Bethell at gully. Umpire Nitin Menon raised his finger immediately, assuming the ball hit his glove, a decision which was reviewed by Santner, who claimed the ball hit his arm guard. 

The review showed a front-on angle, on which the ball appeared to be hitting the Kiwi all-rounder's sweatband of the glove. Based on the angle shown, third umpire Adrian Holdstock adjudged Santner as out, but television replays shown from different angles showed the ball to have hit the arm guard, casting doubts.

Sangakkara questioned the lack of multiple angles shown to the third umpire and came out with criticism for rushing the decision. He stated that the third umpire has ample time to review decisions and must ask for multiple angles of dismissals during uncertain situations.

"You got to ask the question: why weren't the other replays warranted, in terms of making that call? You have so many different angles you need to ask for. On this [angle], it seems it might have touched. But on the other angle, you see clearly that he's not. One thing is to ask for the right angles, take your time, make a decision because there are crucial ones in any format of the game at crucial times, and sometimes, taking the time to really analyse every angle possible that is available to you as a third umpire might be advisable. When something gets referred, the third umpire has a lot of time - as much as he needs - to understand what replays are available and what [the] actual angle is, in terms of making that decision," Sangakkara said on the live broadcast feed on Sky Sports.

Santner's wicket was also Stokes' 250th in Test cricket. He became the second player, after Jacques Kallis, to pick up 250 Test wickets and score 7000 Test runs.

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