England pacer Mark Wood sledged Sarfaraz Khan on the second day of the ongoing fifth Test against India at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
The incident took place in the 76th over when Mark Wood came to bowl his 11th over. The right-arm pacer failed to make an impact in his first 11 overs, conceding 62 runs without picking up a wicket. And Sarfaraz Khan rubbed salt in his wounds by hitting him for two fours in the first three deliveries of the over.
The fast bowler might have been angered by the way Sarfaraz treated him in the third ball. He bowled a short delivery and Sarfaraz bent his knees and hit a ramp shot for a four. The India batsman defended the fourth ball and tried to take a quick single after the ball got caught between his legs and fell to the field.
Meanwhile, Mark Wood attacked and kicked the ball towards the stumps before turning around and having a word with Sarfaraz Khan. The right-handed batsman, however, did not respond to the English star’s verbal volleys.
Watch Mark Wood punch Sarfaraz Khan after taking four punches:
Does wood have rhythm? Sarfaraz has the answer 😎#IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #INDvENG #JioCinemaSport pic.twitter.com/htRkcp57X1
– JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 8, 2024
pic.twitter.com/JEvZKBDP3r
– Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) March 8, 2024
While Sarfaraz Khan did not say anything to Mark Wood after being sledged by him in the 76th over, he took him to the cleaners in the 78th over. On the first ball of the over, the Mumbai star scored a four before smashing it to achieve an impressive six. Wood bowled a short delivery at 144.8 km/h and Sarfaraz flicked the ball over backward square leg for a six.
Talking about the game, India were 357 for 3 after 80 overs at the time of writing this report. Sarfaraz was batting on 43, while debutant Devdutt Padikkal was unbeaten on 38. India were in a fix after losing centurions Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in the space of four runs before Sarfaraz and Padikkal steadied the ship.
The partnership between the two is now worth 78 runs. Earlier in the day, Rohit and Gill scored centuries to put India on top. While Rohit scored 103, Gill scored 110 runs. Earlier, India had bowled out England for just 218 runs in the first innings.