Kent vs Pakistan: Hasan Ali's controversial catch steals headlines

Pakistan started their England tour on a high with a thumping win over County side Kent in a 50-overs match played at the Kent County Cricket Ground, Beckenham. Pakistan scored 358 runs batting first for the loss of seven wickets and restricted Kent to 258 runs in the chase thus registering a 100-run victory.

The tour match wasn’t without its own drama, as Pakistani fast bowler Hasan Ali was accused of claiming a dubious catch of his own bowling. Hasan picked two wickets in the match and showed that he was in a good form for the one-off T20I and five-match ODI series against England. Ali caught and bowled Kent batsman Alex Blake and then celebrated immediately in his trademark style.

Hasan Ali drops the ball while celebrating

Alex Blake had struck an amazing 89 off 48 balls with 6 fours and 6 sixes after the top order failed to give a rousing start to Kent’s chase of 359 runs. Hasan Ali had Blake playing the wrong line and edged the ball straight into the air, which the bowler caught cleanly, but dropped the ball immediately as he got into his signature celebration.

As per ICC’s law 33.3, a catch is completed only after “a fielder obtains complete control over both the ball and his own movement.” This wasn’t the case, as Ali let the ball slip the moment he caught it before going in for the celebration. The soft signal was out and Blake had already started walking away even before the catch was taken.

The non-striker OG Robinson protested to no avail. This wasn’t the first time Hasan Ali’s celebration became the news of the match, as in July last year, he has hurt his neck muscle against Zimbabwe, celebrating too hard.

Also read- ICC World Cup 2019: Combined XI of India and Pakistan for the tournament

The star for the Pakistani team was Imad Wasim, who slammed 117* in 78 balls and Fakhar Zaman, who made 76 in 59 balls, aided by Haris Sohail’s 75.

Here is the video of the incidence:

Pakistan & Hasan Ali say the catch was taken & then the celebration

Kent feel that the ball was dropped during the celebration#KENTvPAK pic.twitter.com/EsHQqLgfIM

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) April 28, 2019

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