Newcomer Sarfaraz Khan has truly made a space for himself in the Indian team, proving to be an influential member for the team, both with the bat and in the field. Fielding at backward short-leg, Sarfaraz somehow managed to convince skipper Rohit Sharma on taking a review despite no other member of the team seemingly being convinced. The end result was that DRS did fin the faintest of contacts between the ball and glove, enough for New Zealand’s Will Young to be given out on Day 1 of the second Test in Pune.
After the game, Sarfaraz opened up on the on-field incident, saying he asked Rohit to trust his call as he was pretty confident that the ball had touched the glove.
“I knew there was contact, but there is always room for some misjudgment. But I heard a noise and hence, felt there was something involved. I was at backward short leg so when the ball was going past his bat and glove, I noticed that the bat was away from the pads. I heard a noise and that’s when I went to Rohit bhai and told him, ‘Rohit bhai, mere pe bharosa karo. Ball lagi hai, aap lo review. Main bol raha hu aapko, lo (Trust me. The ball has hit something, just take the review. I am telling you, take it),” Sarfaraz said in a video shared by the BCCI.
Some of the technical members of the broadcasting team also spoke on the matter, saying they were confident that the New Zealand was not-out.
“I did not hear the sound, as it is very feeble,” KN Srinivasa Rao, a sound supervisor within the team said in the video. “But the hawk-eye has a different technology, which can identify the smallest of small sounds. I thought it was not out, but it turned out to be out.”
Akanksha Pandey, the director’s assistant also said that she wasn’t sure Sarfaraz got the call right: “We were surprised when we saw the replays. We were watching the pictures that the director was cutting, and we were smiling because everybody is always convinced when they are trying to talk the captain into taking the DRS.”
Washington Sundar, one of India’s star bowlers on the first day, said that he was happy Sarfaraz managed to convince Rohit.
“Honestly, I was a good 70-80 meters away from the middle, so I had no idea. I obviously didn’t hear any sound, but Sarfaraz seemed to be very convinced with it. Really happy that Sarfaraz eventually convinced Rohit bhai,” said Washington.
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