There is no denying that the newcomer Sarfaraz Khan has made a place for himself in the Indian team, becoming an effective asset to the team bat and ball. While fielding at backward short-leg, Sarfaraz managed to persuade the otherwise reluctant Rohit Sharma to take a review against the ball. DRS, however, did find a minor touch of the ball off the glove, which was enough to pronounce Will Young out on Day 1 of the second Test match in Pune.
After the match finished, Sarfaraz later shared his side of the incident claiming he grounded on Rohit his request on the review believing the ball made contact with the glove so he asked the captain to trust him.
“Of course I knew there was contact, but with those things there’s always a chance of misjudging. But I did hear a sound so I presumed something was there,” said Sarfaraz, who was fielding at backward short leg, as the ball was gloving past the bat and glove, I saw his bat was clear of his pads. I heard a noise and that is when I went to Rohit bhai and said to 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 highlighted in a video posted by Bcci
Some of the technical members of the broadcasting team also spoke on the matter, saying that New Zealand was not-out did not raise any doubts in them.
“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.”
“The director’s assistant, Akanksha Pandey, also expressed her doubts whether Sarfaraz called correctly: “We were quite astonished when we viewed the replays. The director was editing some images, and we were all beaming because nearly everyone is always believed whenever they try to persuade the captain to go for DRS. They all believed and were smiling because they were showing DRS to the captain.”
Washington Sundar, one of the Indian bowlers who performed on the first day, said he felt pleased that Sarfaraz was able to persuade Rohit.
“Look honestly, I was a good 70-80 meters away from the middle so I don’t know why. It was pretty obviously silent, but then Sarfaraz looked quite confident with it. Really happy that insaf bhai Sarfaraz was able to convince Rohit bhai in the end,” Washington said.”
