As they crossed for the last finale of the day, Ben Stokes and Rishabh Pant got caught up in another round of arguing. This time, the two referees on the field had to intervene before it escalated further.
UPDATED FEBRUARY 13, 2021 07:11 PM IST
In what turned out to be the first real matchup on the field of the series, India’s hitter and goalkeeper Rishabh Pant and England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes engaged in a heated exchange of words towards the end of Day 1 of the second. Test match at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
It all happened in the 87th of the Indian innings, which also happened to be the penultimate at the end of the day when Pant decided to take his time between deliveries to make sure Joe Root was the last before the stumps.
Read also | Joe Root is furious after third referee Anil Chaudhary’s DRS error regarding Rahane
Irritated by this, Stokes, who was standing on the first slip, seemed to have said something to Pant. The Indian goalkeeper was not the one to back down. He refused to hit until the chatter from behind the stumps stopped. When he finally did, Pant played the last two balls, but it didn’t end there.
As they crossed for the last finale of the day, Stokes and Pant got caught up in another round of arguing. This time, both referees on the field had to intervene before it escalated further.
Olly Stone launched the last one during the day with Pant hitting a limit and confidently negotiating the rest of the deliveries.
Wasim Jaffer, a former India starter, also reacted to the incident.
India lost three wickets in the final session but was still in a strong position at 300-6 on stumps on the first day of the second test.
Read also | Twitter was flooded with hilarious comments about Kohli’s reaction after being beaten
Rohit Sharma (161) scored his seventh test century and had 162 runs with Ajinkya Rahane (67) for the fourth wicket. Both batters were fired after tea while England fought back.
Rishabh Pant (33) and Axar Patel (5) are the hitters in the fold.
Rahane brought out his 23rd event with a half-century of 104 balls. Sharma was on the other end, crossing out 150 of 208 deliveries.
Sharma was out of the game, caught on the back square leg as he attempted an aerial sweep against Jack Leach.
Sharma faced 231 balls, hitting 18 fours and two sixes.
Rahane survived a dubious call from DRS, which was later reversed. He did not survive long after, knocked down by the so-called Moeen Ali (2-112).
(With contributions from the agency)
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