Umpires Caution Sarfaraz and Rohit Over Excessive Chatter, 3rd Test

Indian fielder Sarfaraz Khan was on Friday given a warning by the umpires in the presence of skipper Rohit Sharma for chirping even when the ball was in play, during New Zealand's first innings in the third and final Test of the 2024 series at the Wankhede Stadium.

Umpire Richard Illingworth summoned Sarfaraz and Rohit, who had a long animated conversation before the 32nd over of the innings. The umpires were upset apparently because Sarfaraz, fielding close to the bat, was even indulging in verbals when the ball became alive.

Virat Kohli entered the fray with his two paise, as Rohit Sharma defended Sarfaraz. It looked like New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell had approached the umpires claiming excessive chirping on the part of Sarfaraz as he fielded in the short-leg or silly point region.

They advised the Indians to keep their mouth shut, especially when the ball was alive. At this point, Rohit finally agreed to it, and Mitchell bumped fists with him after the discussion.

With Mitchell and Will Young holding the fort for New Zealand and sharing a half-century partnership, it was pretty much clear that the Indians wanted to break their concentration with some well-directed verbal volleys. For most of the time, the New Zealand batters maintained a straight face before Mitchell took it up with the umpires.

Earlier, India had prised out three New Zealand wickets in the morning session after Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat first on a Wankhede wicket which started offering turn soon after the first hour.

Break through came from Akash Deep in the fourth over; he sent back Devon Conway for 4. Then, Washington Sundar took two wickets while Latham fell to straight one that went straight down the off-stump following landing and Rachin Ravindra went nearly into the same mould as previous one when it spun some distance to elude defender's prod and clipped his off stump.