Pakistan batsman falls to rare dismissal

Pakistan Test batsman Adnan Akmal has fallen victim to one of the least common forms of dismissal during a domestic Twenty20 match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

Opening batsman Akmal was playing for Lahore Blues on Wednesday in the qualifying round of the Haier Twenty20 Cup, Pakistan’s premier 20-over tournament, when he was ruled out ‘obstructing the field’ by the TV Umpire in a match against Quetta Region. 

Akmal, who played 21 Tests for Pakistan between 2010 and 2014, was batting on 12 when he came between a throw from Quetta’s Sher Hasan and the stumps in the sixth over of the innings.

At first glance it appeared Akmal was protecting himself but after reviewing the TV replay, the third-umpire Sajid Afridi adjudged him guilty of obstructing the field.

He became only the sixth batsman in the twelve-year history of Twenty20 cricket to be given out in the bizarre fashion.

According to Law 37 of rule-making body the Marylebone Cricket Club's (MCC) Laws of Cricket, a batsman is out if he "wilfully obstructs the opposition by word or action".

Interestingly, the first such dismissal in T20s also happened in Pakistan, when Faisalabad Wolves’ Ahmed Hayat was asked to leave the crease in the final against Karachi Dolphins at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium in 2005.

Between Akmal and Hayat, four other batsmen – Chinthaka Perera, Adrian Barath, Yusuf Pathan and Devon Thomas – have also been adjudged obstructing the field.

However, none of these six instances has happened in an international T20 match.

The match between Lahore Blues and Quetta Region was 5135th in the history of Twenty20 cricket, meaning there is only a 0.11 per cent chance of a batsman being dismissed obstructing the field.

Pakistan, however, are not unknown to this form of dismissal.

Image Id: ~/media/94EC414A6E6343D6B8AB90FD2C88F077

Dale Steyn points to where he believed Ali Anwar obstructed the field in 2013 // Getty Images 

Of the five batsmen – Ramiz Raja (1987), Mohinder Amarnath (1989), Inzamam-ul-Haq (2006), Mohammad Hafeez and Anwar Ali (2013) – to have been dismissed for obstruction in one-day internationals, four hail from Pakistan.

The only batsman to have departed in this unwanted fashion in a Test was England’s Len Hutton against South Africa at The Oval in 1951.

Despite Akmal’s dismissal, Lahore Blues won comfortably by nine wickets to advance to the semi-finals of the qualifying stage, where they need to win to seal a place in the main round of the Haier Twenty20 cup 2015.

Batsmen given out for obstructing the field in Twenty20s:

2005: Ahmed Hayat (Faisalabad Wolves): against Karachi Dolphins at Lahore

2009: Chinthaka Perera (Basnahira South): against Wayamba at Colombo (SSC)

2012: Adrian Barath (Trinidad and Tobago): against Canada at Bridgetown

2013: Yusuf Pathan (Kolkata Knight Riders): against Pune Warriors at Ranchi

2013: Devon Thomas (Antigua Hawksbills): against Guyana Amazon Warriors at North Sound

2015: Adnan Akmal (Lahore Blues): against Quetta Region at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium