‘We were exceptionally rusty. It wasn’t…’: AFG coach Pybus on DRS blunders

4 min readUpdated: Jun 7, 2026 08:05 PM IST

Afghanistan players celebrate after the fall of an Indian wicket at Mullanpur. (Express Photo | Kamleshwar Singh)

Afghanistan coach Richard Pybus admitted his team paid the price for poor decision-making with the Decision Review System (DRS) after missing several opportunities to dismiss Indian batsmen in the one-off Test against India.

The hosts declared their first innings at 564/8 after dominating the first two days of the match. Afghanistan spent close to two days in the field on a flat surface that offered very little assistance to the bowlers. However, apart from the challenging conditions, the visitors were also left to rue a series of missed DRS opportunities that allowed Indian batsmen to build tall scores.

The first chance came on the opening day when KL Rahul, batting on 16, edged a delivery from Azmatullah Omarzai. The on-field umpire did not detect the edge, and Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi chose not to review the decision. Rahul went on to score 100.

Another opportunity arrived on Sunday morning when Omarzai struck Shubman Gill on the pads during the 89th over. Once again, the umpire ruled the batter not out, and Afghanistan decided against using DRS. Television replays later indicated that the ball would have gone on to hit the stumps.

Afghanistan also missed a chance to dismiss Rishabh Pant shortly afterwards. Pant appeared to edge a delivery from Zia-ur-Rehman to first slip, where Rahmanullah Gurbaz completed the catch. The umpire remained unmoved, and Shahidi opted not to challenge the decision. Replays later suggested that Pant had indeed made contact with the ball.

Reflecting on the team’s use of DRS, Pybus admitted Afghanistan lacked clarity and conviction during crucial moments.

“I think the captain’s absolutely reliable, and he’s got a couple of guys that he’s speaking to for the decision-making process. He’s got the wicket-keeper, who has to give him his alignment. He’s got the fielder at point who needs to give him height. He is reliant on the bowler as well in terms of what the bowler is seeing in front of him. We were exceptionally rusty. It wasn’t clear. I think without throwing anybody under the bus, I think there was a lack of conviction and decision-making,” Pybus said after the second day’s play.

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Afghanistan’s bowlers showed greater discipline on the second day after a disappointing start to the match. On Saturday, India finished on 368/3 in 85 overs, but they responded better on Sunday, with Mohammad Saleem Safi finishing with 6/140.

Pybus said the bowlers showed improved discipline on Sunday and reserved special praise for Saleem.

“We shared a lot of naivety yesterday with the ball. It wasn’t Test quality bowling, in any conditions, even on a flat wicket against high-quality players. We weren’t bowling channels; we were not building pressure. So we had a conversation around that, and we were much better today. Just consistent, I thought we started really well. We’ve still got some work to do on our review process. And then Saleem came on and was absolutely outstanding,” Pybus said.

“What I enjoyed about him was his consistency today. He’s not a 145-150kph bowler. He’s super consistent. Yesterday, we were just a bit way off from test level bowling. It’s just that consistency. He was just fantastic, and his bowling just held a length. And I think if you hold a length, you’re in the game the whole time,” he added.

Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child.

Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.

An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More

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