‘A little mercy’: Afghanistan coach Richard Pybus weighs in on KL Rahul’s controversial suspension

India’s KL Rahul celebrates his century (PTI Photo) Afghanistan coach Richard Pybus took a sly dig at KL Rahul on Saturday after the Indian opener opted not to walk despite tucking the ball behind the stumps. By this 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 looked like a clear run-in in the TV footage, but Afghanistan made no effort to catch up. No one looked convinced except Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who was standing at second slip, and skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi opted not to take DRS. However, there was a clear deviation and UltraEdge later confirmed the edge.“I think it will settle down for the better. I don’t have a problem if a guy stands up,” Pybus told reporters at the end of today’s game.“Sometimes they get bad calls. Sometimes they get a little mercy. Sometimes you don’t know. Sometimes you get a feather and you don’t feel it,” he added.Rahul produced some magnificent knocks as he defended himself with determination on a seemingly flat track against an Afghanistan attack that looked disciplined without much of a threat. His innings featured nine boundaries and apart from keeping the edge unchallenged, Rahul displayed excellent defensive technique. However, he looked shaky at the start of his innings before settling into form.“I’m really happy that I could get some time in the middle and make the transition from T20 to Test cricket in a couple of days. And that’s what I’m most happy about. But yeah, it was really hot, so there wasn’t much time for me to feel happy or satisfied with the way I was batting. I was just exhausted at the end,” Rahul told Day at stumps TV.“The ball didn’t drop at all. It was a really slow and low kind of goal, which is what we expected. After a few days of training here and even on the side goals, it was quite similar to this one.“I had to make that change and get used to spending time in the middle, get used to letting the ball come to you and sort out my Test game plan in my head. So yeah, the few days we spent here really helped me. I took the same training into the game, I enjoyed being in the middle and playing good old Test cricket,” he added.It was a near-perfect opening day for India as centuries from KL Rahul and skipper Shubman Gill propelled them to a commanding 368/3 at stumps.