Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant got it wrong as the DRS proved Mohammed Siraj was right all along.There was no shortage of action on Day 2 of the first Test between India and Bangladesh in Chennai. India were bowled out for 376, losing their last four wickets for 27 runs, Hasan Mahmud picked up a consecutive five-wicket-haul, Taskin Ahmed chipped in with three wickets as well, and Akash Deep left Bangladesh struggling at 26/3 at lunch. 120 minutes, 7 wickets, and the possibility of another three-day Test finish. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that there’s only one team dictating terms in this Test match and it’s not Bangladesh.
In the second innings thus far, everything went India’s way – from their pacers looking threatening to both Akash and Jasprit Bumrah getting into the wicket column quickly. The one little blemish, if one has to pinpoint, for India, however, was a DRS error committed by captain Rohit Sharma against Bangladesh opener Zakir Hasan. Bowling the fourth over, Mohammed Siraj had the left-hander stone dead, but after the on-field umpire turned down the appeal, Rohit ignored Siraj’s persistence to go for the review and instead agreed with what wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant had to say.
The ball rapped Hasan on the pads, beaten by pace, as he was looking to work it on the leg-side. “Upar hai? Nahi? Nikal raha hai,” Rohit was caught hearing on the stump mic, meaning “Is it going above? No? Drifting down leg.” Rohit took Pant’s advice, but as the replay soon showed, Pant’s assessment was wrong. Three reds it was. Not that the decision hurt India since Akash soon castled Hasan for 4, but bowling with the intensity that he was, Siraj, like any pacer, would have loved to be among the wickets.
