Umpire Paul Reiffel faced the wrath of Indian cricketers for his decisions against India during the just-concluded Lord's Test against England where the visitors suffered a 22-run defeat. Several controversial decisions led to raging debates. A notable incident was Joe Root being given not out by Reiffel off a Mohammed Siraj delivery, when replays showed the ball would have hit the leg stump. On another occasion, Shubman Gill was given out caught behind off Brydon Carse - a decision later overturned on review.

"My experience with Paul Reiffel... You need to talk to him. You need to set him up. I am not saying that you ask him to give it out. But he has this thing... whenever India bowl, he feels it's not out, whenever India bat, he feels it's out. If this is happening not just against India but against every team, then the ICC needs to look at the umpiring," former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin stated on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat.

Referring to the Gill decision, Ashwin commented: "See this. I have a sedan. That can go through the gap between the bat and ball here. When I saw this the first time, I felt it was not out."

Ashwin also alleged of a pattern's in Reiffel's umpiring. "This wasn't the first time (a wrong decision was given). My dad was watching the match with me and he was saying, 'If Paul Reiffel is there, we won't win.' Whenever Paul Reiffel is umpiring, decisions go against India. When we are bowling, umpire's call is usually not out. When we are batting, there's no umpire's call (in our favour). There's something there. My dad says whenever he is umpiring, India lose."

Anil Kumble chipped in with his perspective and underlined how Mohammed Siraj trapped Joe Root in front of the stumps. Upon review, the ball was shown to be hitting the stumps, but the umpire's call rule came into effect.

"It seems Paul Reiffel has decided that it is not going to be out. Anything close, not out," the legendary leg-spinner alleged.

The match saw a total of 11 decisions being reviewed when Reiffel was the umpire. India took two reviews when England were batting - one was overturned while the other remained as is on umpire's call. But when India came to bat, India's review was overturned, while England's stayed not out as they chased a wicket.

In the second innings, India went for four reviews, with three being unsuccessful, including one as umpire's call. Only one decision came out in India's favour. As India chased the win, they successfully overturned one of two reviews they took. England, meanwhile, suffered the frustration of umpire's call on a not out decision.

In reality, out of the 11 dismissals, seven went in favour of India. Only four decisions went in favour of England. India's record in matches where Reiffel officiated is not poor either. India won 23 matches out of 39, maintaining a winning percentage of 58.97 per cent.

In terms of DRS calls, 21 "umpire's call" verdicts in reviews went against Reiffel's decisions; 11 have favoured India, representing 52.38 per cent of such calls. In the five-day format, India enjoyed 14 successful reviews against Reiffel out of 21.