Major Umpiring Error by Pakistans Third Umpire Steals Spotlight in 1st T20I

Pakistan has come up with a good start to the T20I series against Australia. But it was not as good as the team expected, with them coming off to a close win. What made the headlines was not Pakistan winning the game, it was the blunder caused by their third umpire.

Just before the T20 World Cup, almost every team is participating in a T20I series. For Pakistan, they are having a three match series against Australia which is being played at their home. Pakistan started off well in this T20I series, as they secured a win over Australia by 20 runs in the first match.

While Pakistan came out on top, this is not the key reason why the team has made it to the headlines. It is all due to the third umpire of the country, who made a big blunder in the game. And what made it funnier for the fans was that it was all available to them when the match was streamed live.

1. Third Umpire Makes Headlines

In the match between Pakistan and Australia, the third umpires were from the host country itself. One of them now stands in the news, as he got corrected by the other umpires for his decisions. Even the Australian players stood for a while to wait for the umpire to announce his decision, while the Pakistani batter already knew he was out after looking at the replays.

This incident happened in the 14th over of the first innings of the game. Babar Azam tried to play a reverse shot against Adam Zampa, but the ball clipped his pads. It was a huge shout by the Australian team, and they eventually decided to take a review for the same.

In the viral moment, the ball was first seen not connecting with the bat in the ultra edge. Later in the ball tracking, the ball was clearly going outside off. But the third umpire, Ahsan Raza, repeatedly said pitching outside off till the time the replays were played on the screen. Eventually he was corrected by the other umpires sitting beside him.

Raza went on to see the ball tracking yet again. But it was so late that even Babar Azam started to walk back to the pavilion. After taking a look at the replays yet again, he finally said that Babar Azam is out. The Australian players had to wait for a long time to celebrate for this wicket.

Babar Azam's T20I Return Spoiled

Babar Azam played a T20I game after months for the Pakistani team. He was earlier not even seen as a part of the T20 World Cup squad. It should be noted that Azam had already missed the Asia Cup 2025, as he was not selected by the team. Now as the T20 World Cup looms closer, he decided to get a strong comeback. But the first game didn't go his way, as he scored just 24 runs off 20 balls.

2. Pakistan Starts with a Win

Whatever happened with the umpiring decisions in the first game, Pakistan was still able to come out on top. Playing the match at their home turf, the team was batting first. Saim Ayub and Salman Agha were able to score well, but none of them crossed a half-century. Still, Pakistan was able to post 168 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Adam Zampa and Mahli Beardman took 4 and 2 wickets respectively. Xavier Bartlett was also able to take 2 wickets for the team. But when Australia came out to bat, things were not going good for them. Matthew Short lost his wicket quickly after scoring just 5 runs off 4 balls.

Travis Head (23) and Cameron Green (36) made Australia look strong in this game. But the middle order failed to deliver runs as Pakistan's bowling line-up took wickets in quick succession. Xavier Bartlett tried his best to ensure that Australia gets close to the win in this game.

He was able to score 34 runs off 25 balls, and remained not out till the end with Adam Zampa. Pakistan won the game by 20 runs, as Saim Ayub received the POTM award. While two more games remain in this game, fans remain eager to see how Australia pulls off the series after starting with a loss.