Explained: Why Afghanistan U19 Were Denied a Boundary Against India U19?

The youth teams of India and Afghanistan are facing each other in the second semi-final of the ongoing ICC U19 World Cup in Harare. Afghanistan U19 captain Mahboob Khan won the toss and opted to bat first.

The reason behind Afghanistan opting to bat first was pretty clear, as the surface seemed to favour the batters heavily. Meanwhile, a moment got everyone's attention during the first innings when the Afghanistan team were denied a boundary during the 17th over of the IND U19 vs AFG U19 match.

Why AFG U19 were Denied Boundary Against IND U19?

On the sixth ball of the 17th over, Deepesh Devendran bowled a delivery that stayed low, passing just outside off and beating the batter Faisal Shinozada. When it reached the wicket-keeper Abhigyan Kundu, he couldn’t collect it cleanly. The ball slipped through after a deflection from the helmet placed just behind Kundu and went on towards the rope.

Later, the umpire had already called it a ‘dead ball,' meaning that the play had been stopped. Once a dead ball has been signalled, any runs (including boundaries) scored off that delivery do not count. However, the umpire still ended up signalling it a four. Even the on-air commentators mentioned that he might have to retract his call as it's a dead ball.

More to follow…