AFG vs PAK: Video Of Imam, Iftikhar Withdrawing Run Upon Realising Rashid Assumed Ball Is Dead Goes Viral

AFG vs PAK: Video Of Imam and Iftikhar's gesture has gone viral after Fazalhaq Farooqi's run out of Shadab Khan in the second ODI.

Imam-ul-Haq top-scored for Pakistan with 61 off 94 in this 1st ODI vs Afghanistan.

There debate around the 'spirt of the game' has reignited after Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi ran out Shadab Khan at the non-striker's end in the 50th over of the innings. Even though the pacer was well within the laws of the game and ran the batter out for stealing extra inches which tends to have a decisive impact in a match, a few Pakistani players and fans thought that the their team had been wronged.

Eventually though Pakistan did go on to win the match as Naseem Shah hit a couple of boundaries to finish off a close game as the Men in Green held on to a 1-wicket win to claim the series with a match to go. However, in the aftermatch of the debate about Spirit of Game a video from the 1st ODI of  the same series went viral on social media in which Pakistan batters Imam-ul-Haq and Iftikhar Ahmed retracting a run after they realised that Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan had assumed that the ball is dead.

The said incident happened in the 21st over of the Pakistan innings in the 1st ODI on August 22. While Iftikhar was on strike in this over being bowled by Rashid, the striker played it back to the bowler who picked it up and threw it to Hashmatullah Shahidi at mid wicket. However, the batters changed ends after the leggie had thrown the ball away. Later they realised that since the ball had been hit back to the bowler, Rashid assumed that it ceased to be in play which is why he gave the ball away to his teammate. 

The video of the incident shows Imam even raising his hand up in apology despite having the legal right to complete that run.

 

Pakistan 🇵🇰 : Imam decided to cancel the run as it was against the spirit of game
Afghanistan 🇦🇫: Farooqi mankaded Shadab Khan in the last over so that they could win the gamepic.twitter.com/X1ZrpUmhNT

— Shaheen Fan Club ® (@ShaheenFC_) August 25, 2023

Talking about this particular game, Pakistan made 201 before bowling Afghanistan out for 59, winning the match by 142 runs.