PAK vs SL | Twitter labels Naseem Shah 'unluckiest cricketer' after three DRS denials on the trot

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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It is no safe to say that DRS toys with the mental health of bowlers by keeping them on the edge for minutes at times, only to snatch away their joy from moments before. However, the technology found new levels of ridicule in Colombo as Naseem Shah had to endure three rejections in as many balls.

Pakistan overwhelmed rivals Sri Lanka all hands up in the second Test at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground as they marched closer to bowling out the hosts on Friday after taking a first-innings lead of 410 runs. While Nouman Ali wreaked havoc on one end, Naseem Shah looked fierce opposite him and the pacer looked on course to wrapping up a series win for the Men in Green, only for an unbelievably unlucky sequence of play to deny him his fourth scalp of the match.

Bowling the 62nd over of the third innings, Shah was up against Ramesh Mendis and pitched the third ball of the over at length from over the wicket and managed to deceive the batter with the angle. The red cherry struck Mendis on the knee roll but seemed to be sliding down leg according to the umpire, a suspicion confirmed by DRS after skipper Babar Azam decided to send matters upstairs. However, Shah nearly produced a perfect replication of his effort on the very next delivery, only bowling this one slightly fuller and straighter to convince the umpire to raise his finger. While the right-arm quick broke out in celebration, it was Mendis this time that decided to challenge the call and survived by the skin of his teeth yet again as DRS showed the ball almost kissing the leg stump. 

Nevertheless, Shah stuck to his plan and seemed to have hit the nail on the head the third time around as the umpire showed no hesitation in declaring Mendis out for the second consecutive ball. Yet, the batter was adamant to extend his stay as long as possible and signalled for a DRS yet again as Shah kneeled on the ground while awaiting with bated breath. To the youngster's horror, the ball was missing the stumps by a whisker yet again, making it three consecutive DRS rejections for him. Naseem immediately fell flat to the ground after the big screen showed the replay and was evidently crestfallen by managing no success in the series of appeals. Twitterati was sympathetic to his despair as well albeit they derived much amusement from the sheer uniqueness of the incident.

Just unbelievable

Crazy

Sad

No luck

Unluckiest

No words

Yup

True

LOL

Surely he his!

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