Watch: Richard Illingworth gives Azhar Ali the shock of his life

Azhar Ali is the epitome of two batting extremes. Of course, not many batsmen boast of these extremes. However, as far as the 31-year-old is concerned, he can either bat his way to an impressive score or be dismissed for a single digit score that simply does not add the kind of value to the team as it is supposed to. Moreover, he also has a track record of getting out in perhaps the most bizarre of fashions.

However, when it came to being dismissed on the second day’s play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, it was clear that dismissing the 31-year-old Pakistan limited-overs’ skipper was certainly going to be key. And, when Australia wanted to get rid of him Steve Smith called upon rookie pacer Jackson Bird for the task. Bird had been the pick of the bowlers on the opening day and had provided two breakthroughs.

These breakthroughs had come in the form of two of Pakistan’s key batsmen. Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan are perhaps two of the most important batsmen as well as having the dubious distinction of being perhaps the most experienced players in the squad. However, when Jackson Bird got a sliver of his fingers to the ball from an Asad Shafiq’s on-drive, it was clear that there was going to be some drama.

To the naked eye, when the ball had gone on to ram into the stumps, it was clear that Azhar had indeed made his ground, to say the least. However, what most did not take into account was the fact that Richard Illingworth had pressed the wrong button when it came to revealing his decision on the big screen. The decision and the announcement were soon reversed as for all present in the vast expanse of the MCG had a nice laugh as well.

Watch: Azhar Ali given the shock of his life by Richard Illingworth