Aus vs Afg, T20 WC: Umpiring howler noticed as Naveen-Ul-Haq bowls 5-ball over in Adelaide thriller

Friday (November 04) saw a doubleheader in the T20 World Cup as New Zealand faced Ireland whereas Australia locked horns with Afghanistan at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide. While New Zealand have confirmed a slot in the semi-finals, Australia survived a massive scare versus a spirited Mohammad Nabi-led Afghan line-up to finally emerge on top by four runs. The Kane Williamson-led Black Caps achieved an easy win, by 35 runs, over the Irish camp but Afghanistan challenged Aaron Finch-less Australia before Matthew Wade & Co. held their nerves to win and stay alive in the competition. 

During the Afghanistan-Australia clash, a massive umpiring blunder went unnoticed. After Nabi & Co. opted to bowl first, Naveen-Ul-Haq bowled a five-ball over. However, none of the umpires took note of the mistake and proceedings continued uninterrupted. The incident took place during the fourth over. The incomplete over conceded nine runs. Many umpiring decisions have raised eyebrows in the ongoing edition but this howler certainly tops the list. Talking about the umpiring blunder, it would have become a bigger news had Australia lost the thrilling clash. Had it occurred during Afghanistan’s run-chase, it would have made heads turn as well. Nonetheless, it is definitely a big miss from the on-field umpires especially given how every ball matters in any game.

Eventually, Australia managed a competitive 168 for 8 in 20 overs, riding on Glenn Maxwell’s 32-ball 54, laced with 6 fours and 2 sixes at a strike rate of 168.75 after they were 86 for 4 at one stage. In reply, Afghanistan gave a tough fight courtesy of keeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s 17-ball 30, Gulbadin Naib’s 23-ball 39 and Rashid Khan’s unbeaten 48, off 23 balls. However, they paid the price due to Ibrahim Zadran (33-ball 26) and Darwish Rasooli’s (13-ball 15) knocks. 

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At the post-match presentation, Player-of-the-Match Maxwell said, “Afghanistan played really well, they struck the ball really cleanly. At the start, they put us under pressure in the powerplay. We were able to hold them back but then there was some pretty clean hitting towards the back and gave us a bit of a scare. It was nice to have an impact in the field. I knew I wasn’t going to have much of an impact with the ball with the conditions they were. To have an impact is nice. During the day, it was quite slow and taking spin, it was holding up a little bit. It was quite hard to press the issue. We got to about the 12th over mark where we just had to put a total on the board to make sure we gave ourselves a chance of winning the game. Even though we were trying to go hard, they bowled extremely well in the last four overs. They executed their plans and it was hard to get away. We’ll be following it (England vs Sri Lanka), we put ourselves in this situation, but hopefully Sri Lanka can do the job for us.”

Australia will now hope for Sri Lanka to do them a favour and beat their arch-rivals England, on Saturday (November 05) at the SCG, Sydney, to enter the semi-finals, from Group 1, along with New Zealand.