Afghanistan coach Richard Pybus on Saturday took a sly dig at KL Rahul after the India opener chose not to walk despite edging the ball behind the stumps. At that stage, Rahul was batting on 16 and went on to complete his 12th Test hundred.On the first ball of the 11th over, bowled by Ziaur Rahman, Rahul survived what appeared to be a clear nick in TV replays, but Afghanistan did not appeal for a catch behind. No one apart from Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was standing at second slip, looked convinced, and captain Hashmatullah Shahidi decided against taking the DRS. However, there was a clear deviation, and UltraEdge later confirmed the edge.“I think it gets balanced out for the better. I’ve got no issue if a guy stands,” Pybus told reporters at the end of the day’s play.“Sometimes they get bad calls. Sometimes they get a little bit of grace. Sometimes you don’t know it. Sometimes you get a feather and you don’t feel it,” he added.Rahul played some gorgeous strokes while defending resolutely on a seemingly flat track against an Afghanistan attack that looked disciplined without being particularly threatening. His innings featured nine boundaries and, barring the edge that went unappealed, Rahul displayed excellent defensive technique. However, he did look tentative at the start of his innings before grinding his way into form.“I’m really happy that I could get some time in the middle and make that switch from T20 to Test cricket in a couple of days’ time. And that was the most pleasing thing. But yeah, it was really hot, so there wasn’t much time for me to feel happy or satisfied with the way I batted. I was just exhausted by the end of it,” Rahul told broadcasters at stumps on Day 1.“The ball wasn’t coming on at all. It was a really slow and low sort of wicket, which we did expect. After a few days of training here and even on the side wickets, it was pretty similar to this.“I had to make that switch and get used to spending time in the middle, get used to letting the ball come to you and get your Test game plan sorted in your head. So yeah, the few days that we spent here really helped. I just carried that same training into the game, enjoyed being out in the middle and playing some good old Test cricket,” he added.It was a near-perfect opening day for India as centuries from KL Rahul and captain Shubman Gill powered them to a commanding 368/3 at stumps.
