Afghanistan head coach Richard Pybus accepted the truth, saying his team messed up DRS calls during the one-off Test against India in Mullanpur. He didn't mince his words, saying there was a lack of conviction when it came to taking reviews, and the poor judgment has now led to Afghanistan being down and out in the Test match. The opening two days of the one-off Test saw Afghanistan giving Indian batters opportunity after opportunity owing to their reluctance to challenge the on-field call.
KL Rahul, the opening batter, who eventually scored a century, survived an edge on the opening day, while Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill also enjoyed reprieves on Day 2. India did not need a second invitation as they went on to score 564 before declaring their first innings.
Pybus said that the Afghanistan captain, Hashmatullah Shahidi, depends on two or three guys to take the review, and the skipper didn't refer the decision once there was no agreement among them.
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"We were exceptionally rusty. It wasn't clear, without throwing anybody under the bus, I think there was a lack of conviction in decision-making, and at the end of the day, the skipper's got a very short period of time to make those decisions in, and he's reliant on that feedback. We chatted about it afterwards because we were obviously way off the pace with that, and it cost us," Pybus told reporters after stumps on Day 2.
{{/usCountry}}"We were exceptionally rusty. It wasn't clear, without throwing anybody under the bus, I think there was a lack of conviction in decision-making, and at the end of the day, the skipper's got a very short period of time to make those decisions in, and he's reliant on that feedback. We chatted about it afterwards because we were obviously way off the pace with that, and it cost us," Pybus told reporters after stumps on Day 2.
{{/usCountry}}"I think the captain is absolutely reliant, and he has got a couple of guys that he is speaking to for the decision-making process. He has got the wicketkeeper, who has to give him his alignment, he has got a pointer who needs to give him height, and he is reliant on the bowler as well in terms of what the bowler is seeing in front of him," he added.
‘No wriggle room’
The poor DRS aside, the on-field umpiring in the Test has been shoddy to say the least. Richard Illingworth and Sharfuddoula Saikat didn't raise their finger on a number of times, raising a few eyebrows. However, the Afghanistan coach refused to blame the officials, saying there is “no wriggle room.”
“With regard to the umpiring, I know from my experience of being a director of cricket how rigorous the review of the umpiring is, and how the decision-making process is reviewed by the ICC,” he said.
“There is no wriggle room for the umpires. When they make a mistake, every single decision is reviewed. The umpire will get feedback on that. I have absolutely no doubt that the umpire is doing the best that he can,” Pybus added.
Speaking of the Test, Manav Suthar scalped three wickets on the second day to reduce Afghanistan to 113/5 with the visitors still trailing by 451 runs.