Sarfaraz Khan, the substitute fielder for the injured Rishabh Pant, turned into a game-changer for India on Day 3 of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The right-handed batter was at his chirpy best, and his constant sledging resulted in the wickets of Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Niroshan Dickwella. The first victim of Sarfaraz’s ploy was Dhananjaya, and soon after, the wicketkeeper-batter Dickwella followed suit on Tuesday.
The incident with the Sri Lanka captain happened before Manav Suthar was about to bowl a delivery. There was some movement behind the bowler’s arm, and hence Dhananjaya decided to stop Suthar. It was then that Sarfaraz, who was at short leg, decided to do some chirping and try to get under the skin of the Sri Lanka captain.
Sarfaraz asked Dhananjaya not to waste time and get on with the proceedings. He also advised the right-hander to play straight and not worry about the movement behind the screen.
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“Nothing is there, bro. You are looking there. You are just wasting time, bro. Don’t be scared. You are the captain. Come on, bro,” he was heard as saying on the stump mic.
“Why are you worried about that side. Look straight,” he added.
A few balls later, the ploy seemed to work as Dhananjaya lost his wicket to Suthar on the fifth delivery of the 35th over. The left-arm spinner bowled a tossed-up delivery around middle, and Dhananjaya de Silva looked to defend. However, he was just able to get an outside edge, and the ball deflected off Jurel’s gloves and flew towards the fielder at slip.
KL Rahul made a couple of attempts before pouching the ball safely. With this, India got their fifth wicket. Dhananjaya walked back to the hut after scoring 8 runs off 14 deliveries.
The Dickwella incident
After Dhananjaya and Pasindu Sooriyabandara lost their wickets, Dickwella came to the crease, and Mohammed Siraj immediately opted for the short-ball tactic, which wasn’t surprising, as the same ploy had worked in the second innings of the first Test.
Sarfaraz once again had a thing or two to say to Dickwella. Although there were smiles from both players, the final laugh belonged to Sarfaraz as Dickwella gloved a nothing delivery to the wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, giving India a solid position in the Test.
Earlier, India declared their first innings at 503/9 after opting to bat. Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel were the two centurions for the visitors, while Asitha Fernando was the pick of the bowlers, scalping four wickets.