'Oye, hero nahi banne ka': Rohit Sharma warns Sarfaraz Khan, pulls him up for attempting foolish stunt
The incident took place in the 47th over when Sarfaraz decided he would field at the close-in position, but Rohit walked up to him and warned him.
Rohit Sharma stopped Sarfaraz Khan in his tracks as the India youngster was about to launch a daredevil stunt while fielding during Day 3 of the 4th Test against England in Ranchi. With India searching for the last two wickets in their quest for glory, Rohit had spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja operating at both ends. With the Shoaib Bashir and Ben Foakes defending almost everything, Rohit realised it was important to get a close-in fielder around the bat, for which he asked Sarfaraz, who was at long-on, to change his position to shot leg. Sarfaraz answered to his captain's call, but in the process decided to take a risk.
The incident took place in the 47th over. Kuldeep was made to wait to bowl the fourth ball after Sarfaraz decided he would field at the close-in position without wearing a helmet. As he tried to convince his captain, explaining that waiting for the helmet may kill time, Rohit walked up to him and warned him about committing a grave mistake, explaining how dangerous it was. That was also the time when umpire Kumar Dharmasena stepped in and said, 'No, you cannot do that,' informing that a helmet is mandatory while fielding at close-in positions.
"You could hear Rohit saying 'Oye, hero nahi banne ka'. Very Rohit Sharma style to say it. Not the usual way here. No need to be a hero, wait for your helmet here. When you're fielding at that position, no risks please. Get that helmet on. Even the umpire letting Sarfaraz know that," Karthik said on commentary.
Thank goodness for Rohit's intervention, as only two balls later, a defensive shot from Bashir took off from the ground and struck Sarfaraz on the helmet - albeit not without force.
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Sarfaraz had already taken two catches earlier, one of which was at short leg when he helped Ashwin dismiss Ben Duckett for the first England wicket, and then when he dived forward at mid-on and hung on to a mistimed loft from Tom Hartley off the bowling of Kuldeep. But no matter how electric and sharp he was on the field, fielding at short leg without a helmet is pretty much a brain fade. Remember how Rohit said 'Yes, I will' when Sarfaraz' father Naushad urged the India captain to take care of his son? Well, Rohit lived up to his promise.
In 1998, the world lost Indian cricketer Raman Lamba when a pull shot struck him on the head. Lamba, who was fielding at short leg without a helmet on, copped a blow and went into coma before eventually succumbing to the blow.
India poised to win the series tomorrow
The two wickets which India were searching for were provided by Ashwin, who was summoned by Rohit and repaid the captain's faith by dismissing Foakes and James Anderson in the same over. Those two strikes helped Ashwin pick up the 35th five-wicket-haul of his Test career and go level with Anil Kumble in the same number of innings. Legendary company, indeed.
Ashwin's 5/51 coupled with Kuldeep Yadav's 4/22 dismissed England for 145 in the second innings, which in turn set India a 192-run target. India, already leading the series 2-1, have raced to 40/0 with Rohit and Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring at a brisk pace and giving the team a phenomenal start. During this partnership, Rohit completed 4000 Test runs and 1000 against England.
That India are in a position to seal the series tomorrow also owes a great bit to the 23-year-old Dhruv Jurel, without whom they would have struggled. Jurel, playing only his 2nd Test, scored his maiden Test fifty and top-scored with 90 to lift India from 177/7 to 307.
