T20 World Cup: Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar join Pakistan’s chorus against controversial no-ball call in defeat to India – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

India and Pakistan produced one of their greatest battles in cricket on Sunday, with the Men in Blue triumphing over their arch-rivals in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground in their T20 World Cup opener.

And at the heart of their memorable victory over the Men in Green, which helped bury the 10-wicket thrashing against the same opposition in Dubai last year, was Virat Kohli, who produced a magnificent 82 not out off 53 balls, one of his greatest knocks across formats.

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Kohli remained a key talking point among fans and experts hours after the game was done and dusted and the points were awarded to the Rohit Sharma-led team, with his two sixes off Haris Rauf in the penultimate over instantly becoming viral.

The Pakistanis, however, felt they were hard done by by the umpires on the day, especially with the contentious waist-high no-ball called off Mohammad Nawaz’s bowling in the final over. And it wasn’t just the fans who complained about the decision; former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, known not to mince his words, tweeted, “Umpire bhaiyo, food for thought aaj raat k liye (umpire brothers, food for thought for tonight)”.

Besides Akhtar, Pakistan pace legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis called for modern technology to be utilised to make crucial decisions such as this.

Neither Waqar nor Wasim, who were analysing the India-Pakistan match on A Sports alongside fellow ex-Pakistan captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Shoaib Malik, took a definitive stand on the accuracy of the no-ball decision, but insisted there was room for doubt that could’ve been cleared had the on-field umpires decided to take the matter upstairs.

“The ball seemed to dip but it’s kind of touch and go. To the naked eye, it did not seem like a no-ball but in slow-motion, it does seem like it dipped. Any batsman will turn and ask for no ball. That’s not his fault. Such a big game. You have the technology. Use it. Why flare up things unnecessarily,” Akram said on the show.



The left-arm spinner had been entrusted to defend 16 off the last over, and started on a tidy note, dismissing a set Hardik Pandya off the first delivery and conceding just three off the next two.

Nawaz however, would fire a full toss — his second over the over — at Kohli, who instantly looked towards the umpires after walloping the ball over deep square leg for a maximum, with umpire Rod Tucker eventually making the no-ball signal.

The decision did lead to some animated discussions between him, square-leg umpire Marais Erasmus and Pakistan captain Babar Azam and it took a few minutes before the proceedings resumed.

What followed was complete mayhem at the ‘G’. Nawaz started off with a free hit, with Kohli collected three byes after getting bowled in the subsequent free hit, the ball ricocheting off the off stump and running away to third man.

New batter Dinesh Karthik was stumped off the penultimate delivery, before Ravichandran Ashwin finished things off in style, leaving a ball going down leg alone for a wide and going for an inside-out loft over mid off next up to collect the winning run.

WATCH: Ball-by-ball recap of Mohammad Nawaz’s costly final over

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