Mohammad Rizwan tried to take a run without his bat but the result was not quite what he expected during the third T20I encounter between Pakistan and New Zealand on Wednesday. During the sixth over of the Pakistan innings, Rizwan played a ball from Matt Henry on the on-side but while sprinting to take a run, he lost control of his bat. He did not slow down and after touching down the crease at the non-striker end with his gloves, he ran to complete a second run. Although he had to complete a full-stretch dive at the end, no harm was done. However, the replays showed that during the first run, Rizwan's gloves were just short of the crease and as a result, the umpire decided to signal a short run.
Rizwan was visibly distraught at the decision and the commentator could not hide his emotions.
"Should have gotten three with the bat there. Clever. It just slipped from his hands, and away he goes! Touches down with the gloves, does he? No, he doesn't," the commentator said.
"Wow! So they will signal one short here. That is comedy. This is what I don't understand about one short. If you are short on one run, of course the second one shouldn't count. Because technically you didn't get the first. It always confuses me," he further added.
New Zealand sealed their T20 series against Pakistan with two games to spare Wednesday on the back of a record 137 off 62 balls by opener Finn Allen at University Oval in Dunedin.
The Black Caps, sent in to bat in game three of the five-match series, won by 45 runs after posting a colossal 224 for seven and restricting Pakistan to 179 for seven.
It followed their victories by 46 and 21 runs respectively in the first two matches.
The swashbuckling Allen, following on from his 74 off 41 balls in game two, frequently belted the ball out of the ground as he smashed 16 sixes and five fours in his whirlwind innings.
He said he has been working on trying to spend more time in the middle while still being explosive.
"It's a bit of both, you know, picking my moments when to go and picking bowlers too. For me, playing the ball on its merits and hitting it where it's supposed to go is kind of what I've been trying to do," he said.
(With AFP inputs)