Faf du Plessis and Imran Tahir’s awkward fielding helps Fakhar Zaman get a boundary

Limited-overs cricket is a treat to the eyes not only for the action with the bat and ball or the skills of the fieldsmen but also because of the comedy of errors committed by players under pressure to perform. The zeal to put up the best fielding standards backfires at times, resulting in a completely opposite result. The recent ODI played between South Africa and Pakistan in Cape Town proved it once again.

It was the decider in the series and the Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field first. It was the 20th over of the Pakistan innings when left-hand opener Fakhar Zaman was playing with the veteran Mohammad Hafeez with the team total on 98 for 2. Zaman was on strike and the bowler, Pieter Mulder, produced a full delivery on the middle stump which the batsman hits straight to mid on.

Du Plessis was fielding at that position and he tried to get a hand on it by making a slide but it got deflected off underneath him. Imran Tahir came running in from the mid off to stop the ball but it completely befuddles him with Tahir taking a comical tumble. The ball races to the long-off boundary to take Zaman to his fifty and Pakistan to the three-figure mark. It was Zaman’s international fifty since November last year.

Tahir’s tumble left the commentators in splits

The scene of Tahir’s bizarre tumble while trying to stop the ball left the commentators including Shaun Pollock and Mike Haysman in splits as the fielder, who then collected the ball from the boundary, was seen defending his miss to his skipper saying the ball had taken an awkward turn.

Though du Plessis was seen disappointed over the miss, it was his team who had the final laugh as South Africa won the match by 7 wickets to bag the series 3-2. The skipper remained unbeaten on 50 to give the finishing touches to the game along with Rassie van der Hussen (also 50 not out) after opener Quinton de Kock hit 83. Pakistan won the first match of the series but South Africa won the next two to take a lead but the visitors squared things by winning the fourth game.

Here is the video of their fielding effort:

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