Mullanpur, June 7: Afghanistan head coach Richard Pybus on Sunday conceded his team was exceptionally “rusty” in terms of taking correct DRS calls, as there was a singular lack of conviction even when there were clear nicks from the Indian batters.
KL Rahul on the opening day, and Rishabh Pant on the second day, had edged one each to wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai who didn’t bother appealing.
In the case of Indian skipper Shubman Gill, keeper Zazai’s reluctance didn’t help as TV replays showed that Azmat Omarzai had trapped him plumb in front of the wickets.
“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 said at the end of the day’s play.
Pybus was, however, sympathetic with the on-field umpires Ibne Saikat and Richard Illingworth. (PTI)
