Twitter Reactions: Afghanistan's Noor Ahmad mankads Pakistan's Mohammad Huraira in U19 World Cup

Afghanistan and Pakistan are currently fighting it out in the quarterfinal of the ongoing Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. After opting to bat first, Afghanistan were bundled out for just 189 runs and they are trying their best to defend the total. And in the process, a huge controversy has been sparked by the chinaman Noor Ahmad who mankaded the set batsman Muhammad Huraira.

The incident took place in the 28th over of the innings when Pakistan had lost two wickets in quick succession. The experienced Rohail Nazir and Fahad Munir were back in the hut and Muhammad Huraira who had opened the innings needed to stay in the middle till the end. However, he was caught surprised with Ahmad mankading him.

The on-field umpires urged the bowler to stay calm after appealed vociferously and discussed the matter before sending it upstairs. And the replays confirmed that Huraira was out of his crease even before the bowler delivered the ball. Going by the laws of the game, the dismissal is legitimate and the third umpire also upheld the appeal to adjudge the batsman run-out.

Having said that, the dismissal once again, like it had in the IPL when Ravi Ashwin mankaded Jos Buttler, will spark a debate on the spirit of the game.

Afghanistan collapse with the bat

Earlier in the day, Afghanistan batsmen couldn’t do much after their skipper opted to bat first. It was a good chance for them to post a big total and then put pressure on Pakistan. But they could only manage to muster 189 runs in 49.1 overs. Ibrahim Zadran and Farhan Zakhil started well to stitch 41 runs in less than seven overs. But once the partnership was broken, the going got tough for the rest of the batsmen.

Afghanistan lost wickets at regular intervals and though there were a couple of 20s by the middle order batsmen Rahmanullah and Abid Mohammadi they were never in control. At one stage, the team was reeling at 152/8 and could reach 189 only due to Abdul Rahman’s 30-run knock.

Meanwhile, the recent mankading stunned the social media as well and the debate once again has sparked about the form of the dismissal and the laws of the game.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: