Indian fielder Sarfaraz Khan was on Friday warned by the umpires in the presence of skipper Rohit Sharma for chirping even when the ball was in play, during New Zealand’s first innings in the third and final Test of the 2024 series at the Wankhede Stadium. Umpire Richard Illingworth called up Sarfaraz and Rohit and the three had a long animated discussion before the 32nd over of the innings. The umpires were apparently unhappy as Sarfaraz, fielding close to the bat, was engaging in verbals even when the ball became alive.
Virat Kohli joined in the discussion, adding his two-bit as Rohit Sharma defended Sarfaraz. It seemed New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell had complained to the umpires of the excessive chirping by Sarfaraz, who was fielding in the short-leg or silly point region.
The Indians were told to cut down on the chatter especially when the ball was alive and it was apparent that Rohit finally agreed to it as he and Mitchell bumped fists after the discussion ended.
With Mitchell and Will Young holding the fort for New Zealand and sharing a half-century partnership, it was apparent that the Indians wanted to break their concentration through some well-directed verbal volleys. For most of the time, the New Zealand batters maintained a straight face before Mitchell took it up with the umpires.
Earlier, India had prised out three New Zealand wickets in the morning session after Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first on a Wankhede wicket which started offering turn soon after the first hour.
Washington Sundar claimed two wickets after Akash Deep had made the breakthrough by sending back Devon Conway (4) in the fourth over, Sundar castled Latham with one that went straight after landing on the off-stump and then accounted for Rachin Ravindra in nearly identical fashion, this time the ball spinning a bit to evade the defensive prod by the batter and clipped the off stump.
