VIDEO | Controversy ensued as third umpire rules D'Arcy Short run out without conclusive evidence

10/27/2018

It seemed everything is going in favour of Pakistan in T20 cricket as the team is hardly missing out a chance to make headlines for all the good reasons. However, yesterday D'Arcy Short's dismissal by Imad Wasim created a lot of furore as the replays seemed to suggest that it was a not-out.

Pakistan and T20 cricket have continued to be a good ally as the South Asian nation clinched their tenth consecutive T20 International series with an 11-run win over Australia in the second encounter of the three-match series in Dubai on Friday. While Australia were no way close to what Pakistan were throughout the game, they would rue the D'Arcy Short run out as a close moment in the game which could have tilted the momentum in their favour.

The incident happened as early as the third over of the Australian innings when Aaron Finch powered a flatter delivery at the stumps and Imad Wasim managed to get a finger to it. The ball clipped Imam's hand and went back to hit the stumps and for a moment, it seemed like a dismissal. Umpire immediately referred it to the upstairs to get a clarification on D'Arcy Short’s bat position at the time the ball hit the stumps.

On replay, from one angle, it was apparent that Short's bat was on the ground at the time of the impact but third umpire Shozab Raza gave the southpaw out. That certainly didn’t go down well with Finch, who was batting at the other end, and he was seen fuming at the decision. Glenn Maxwell, Australia’s top-scorer, also concurred with his mate and stated that Short should not have been given out.

"Maybe the third umpire pressed the wrong button. We've all made mistakes. As we probably saw it in the change rooms, there wasn't really any doubt. I think if you even look at the way he's holding his bat, it's very hard to hold it above the line with the bat sitting out of his gloves," Maxwell said in the post-match press conference.

However, Sarfraz Ahmed didn’t buy to Maxwell’s words as he stated that it was a clear dismissal.