Afghanistan did not learn from the mistake: Not one…lost the opportunity to take DRS 3 times, could have got two wickets on 2 balls – Haribhoomi

Afghanistan missed the opportunity to take DRS for the third consecutive time in the Test match against India. First KL Rahul, then Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant got life. Later, these batsmen strengthened India’s position by playing big innings.

In the only Test being played between India and Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, the mistakes made by Afghanistan regarding DRS seemed to be costing them heavily. After giving life to KL Rahul on the first day, Afghanistan team missed two big opportunities to take DRS on the second day, which Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant took full advantage of.

India was in a strong position on the second day of the match. After KL Rahul’s century and Sai Sudarshan’s brilliant innings, captain Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant were at the crease. India’s score was 398/3, but Afghanistan got a chance to make a comeback in the match after getting the second new ball.

Afghanistan made mistake in taking DRS
Fast bowler Azmatullah Umarzai bowled a brilliant spell and created a situation to shock India in two consecutive balls. However, Afghanistan’s hesitation and poor DRS decisions ruined all the hard work.

Could have got two wickets in 2 balls
In the 88.4th over of the Indian innings, Umarzai’s ball hit the pad of Shubman Gill. Afghanistan players definitely appealed, but captain Hashmatullah Shahidi did not take the review. Later, ball tracking clearly showed that the ball was hitting the wicket directly and Gill was out LBW. That means Afghanistan lost one wicket.

Rishabh Pant also appeared in trouble on the very next ball. The ball came very close to his bat and reached wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai. The players did not appeal very strongly and this time also DRS was not taken, but later in the ultra-edge it was clearly seen that the ball had taken the edge of the bat. That means Pant was also out.

This moment could have proved to be the turning point of the match for Afghanistan. If both the batsmen were out, India’s score would have been 398/5 and the course of the match could have changed, but it did not happen.

KL Rahul was also given life on the first day
Even on the first day, Afghanistan did not take review on the appeal of catch out against KL Rahul. At that time Rahul was on only 16 runs. After this, he put India in a strong position by scoring a brilliant century. Although Gill was later out after scoring 126 runs, by then he had put the team in a strong position. On the other hand, Pant also took full advantage of the opportunity.

Afghanistan’s new coach Richard Pybus has already said that the team has missed important chances, but DRS errors on two consecutive balls on the second day show that the team is still struggling with the lack of experience in using this technology. Missing such opportunities against a strong team like India can prove to be very costly and Afghanistan is having to bear the brunt of it.