It’s my job to appeal, says Shillingford

By
Daily Excelsior
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Kolkata, Nov 7:
Even as a pall of gloom descended on the Eden Gardens after retiring legend Sachin Tendulkar became victim of a dubious decision in the first Test here today, West Indies spinner Shane Shillingford said his “job was to appeal”.
Off-spinner Shillingford returned figures of 4/130 on day 2 and one of his wickets included Tendulkar. It turned out to be a controversial dismissal as TV replays suggested that the ball was climbing and would have missed the stump.
Asked whether he was happy with the way Tendulkar was dismissed, Shillingford said: “That’s a funny question… In terms of, at the spur of the moment, it’s every bowler’s reaction to appeal one time. But when I got in and I had seen it and stuff… At the end of the day, the umpire made his decision. It’s my job to appeal, so these things happen in the game.”
Rohit Sharma stamped his class by hitting a sparkling 127 on debut as India recovered from a top-order collapse to take a firm grip of the Test with a 120-run first-innings lead.
Ravichandran Ashwin (92) was also going strong at stumps.
But Shillingford said they’re still hopeful as the wicket had “eased out”.
“The match is still wide open. It’s only the second day, tomorrow is a very important day for us. We have to come out and stick to our plans and be patient. When we get them out, it will depend on how we will bat and stuff.
“Definitely (the wicket had eased out…) After lunch it really slowed down a bit. That’s when you had to be a little more tighter as opposed to more attacking. The batsmen, they were really patient as well and put away the bad balls.”
He said things did not go their way as Sharma and Ashwin batted really well.
“Nothing wrong with us… That’s cricket. Sometimes you get early wickets and some batsmen come to consolidate and that’s when you have to dig deep. I thought Sharma and Ashwin, they bat absolutely well, they stuck to the task and bad balls, they put away. That’s the kind of wicket; they know their wickets, they handled it really well. (PTI)

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