Azhar Ali led from the front at the MCG today scoring unbeaten 139 to help his team post a decent total of 310-6 at the end of rain-hit day in Melbourne. But the opener had some real nervous moment after umpire’s ‘unintended’ mistake of giving Azhar out when he actually he wasn’t.
It happened after centurion from the first Test at Gabba, Asad Shafiq, took strike to face the last ball before drinks during session one. He smashed a straight drive past Jackson Bird who managed to get his fingertip on the ball before it went on to crash into the stump.
Ali, at the other end, had to scramble a bit but managed to get his bat back into the crease. Just to be sure, however, umpire S Ravi went up to the third umpire to check. Expectedly, the replays suggested that Ali had grounded his bat into the crease comfortably well before the ball dislodged the bails at the non-striker’s end.
Umpire’s decision that sent Azhar Ali in an extreme shock. The decision, however, was reversed moments later.#PakvAus@AUSVPAK pic.twitter.com/JVrT9KesLE
— azhar khan (@Azharkh4) December 27, 2016
And that is when the drama unfolded. Quite hilariously, third umpire Richard Illingworth pressed the ‘OUT’ button by mistake.
And the three dreaded letters were there for all to see in bold on the big screen, prompting Azhar suffering from a mini heart-attack lost colour on his face, while the Aussies couldn’t resist laughing.
Ali’s misery was soon put to rest after the umpire quickly reversed his ‘shocking’ decision.
