On a day when Karnataka pacers Ronit More and Abhimanyu Mithun were throwing bullets at Saurashtra star Cheteshwar Pujara, wicketkeeper-batsman Snell Patel held his ground and supported the India international as the duo survived a fiery spell of 60 balls post lunch in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.
Pujara’s caught-behind reprieve on 1 perhaps hurt the spirit of Karnataka players. The nick off the short ball that was moving away had caused a 30-second silence in the stadium.
Being closer to Pujara, at the non-striker’s end, Patel couldn’t hear any sound though.
When asked about the discussion in the middle at that moment, he said, “He wasn’t saying anything. Even I didn’t know anything. No idea.”
READ: Pujara reprieve likely to reopen DRS debate
But did he hear the nick? “ Naa ” responded Patel who top-scored with 85 in the Saurashtra innings.
“There was a nice spell in between. They were pitching at the right areas and swinging the ball. We wanted to play out the spell. We knew it would be easier if we could survive that,” he added.
Patel refused to comment on the need for DRS in domestic cricket. “I can’t say anything on that. I have no idea about it.”
The 25-year-old feels the game is evenly poised after the first two days. “It is a sporting wicket. Everyone is getting help. There will be variable bounce as we progress to day three and four. The cracks are opening up,” he said.
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