Allan Border asked – and we’ve delivered!

After a second bizarre run out in less than 24 hours in the second Test in Abu Dhabi, the legendary former Australian captain asked the question “we should set-up a poll – which one was a dumber piece of cricket?”.

Marnus Labuschagne’s dismissal on day two, when he watched the ball slowly roll into his stumps at the non-striker’s end despite not having his bat grounded behind the crease, was labelled a “brain fade” by former Australia batsman Mark Waugh and “extremely silly” by former Pakistan batsman Rameez Raja.

Less than a day later, Pakistan’s Azhar Ali arguably outdid the Australian, run out when he was standing mid-pitch chatting to his batting partner at the moment Tim Paine broke the stumps.

Having glided Peter Siddle through the cordon, Azhar seemingly believed the ball had gone to the boundary rope so he slowly walked down the pitch to chat with Asad Shafiq and wait for the next delivery.

But the ball had in fact stopped just short of the rope and Azhar was unaware as Mitchell Starc fired in a throw and Paine removed the bails.

“I’m lost for words,” Border said in commentary.

“That’s just total stupidity. There’s no other way to describe it.

“It’s official; Marnus Labuschagne has now been superseded as the dumbest batsman.”

Incredibly, it’s the second time in less than two years that a Pakistan batsman has been run out in a Test having believed the ball had gone for a boundary.

In a Test against West Indies in 2016, tail-ender Mohammad Amir thought he’d cleared the boundary rope with a six and stood rooted to his crease. But when Roston Chase pulled off a brilliant diving stop as he dove over the rope, got to his feet and fired in a throw, Amir realised he could be in trouble and scampered to make his ground. 

But as the throw came in, Amir fumbled his bat and was caught short, run out as skipper Jason Holder broke the bails.

Australia XI: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitch Marsh, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Tim Paine (capt), Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland.

Pakistan XI: Mohammad Hafeez, Fakhar Zaman, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Harris Sohail, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Yasir Shah, Bilal Asif, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas.

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Ashton Agar, Brendan Doggett, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc

Pakistan Test squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (c), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Shadab Khan, Bilal Asif, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Hafeez

Oct 7-11: First Test, drawn

Oct 16-20: Second Test, Abu Dhabi