South African spinner, Tabraiz Shamsi, has come in defense of the wicket-keeper, Quinton De Kock. He stated that De Kock was not trying to deceive Fakhar Zaman during his run-out in the second ODI. Instead, he was asking a fielder to back up at the non-striker’s end.
Fakhar Zaman’s incredible innings of 193 off 155 balls came to an abrupt end as he was run-out in the final over of the game, as Pakistan ultimately lost the match by 17 runs.
The run-out sparked a debate amongst the cricketing universe as former cricketers, and cricketing journalists believe that De Kock distracted Fakhar as he was coming back for his second run. Under the ICC rules and regulations, Pakistan should have been awarded five penalty runs, and Fakhar should have been given not out.
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Shamsi believes that De Kock did not deceive Fakhar and asked the cricketing fans to leave Quinton De Kock alone. He added that it was Fakhar’s responsibility to complete the run.
So it's not funny that the batsman stopped running instead of completing the run?
Lets not take the attention away from a great innings that he played and give him credit for that
The batman's job in that instance was to complete the run that all…
As simple as that :)
— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90) April 5, 2021
However, Shamsi’s statement contradicts the statement of his captain, Temba Bavuma, who was fielding closer to De Kock unlike Shamsi, and appreciated De Kock’s clever thinking.
Bavuma said, “It was quite clever from Quinny. Maybe some people might criticize it for maybe not being in the spirit of the game. However, it was an important wicket for us. Zaman was getting close to our target. Yeah, it was clever from Quinny. You’ve always got to look for ways especially when things are not going your way, got to find ways to turn the momentum around. Quinny did that – I don’t think he broke the rules in any kind of way. It was a clever piece of cricket.”
Another thing that clearly shows Shamsi is lying is that the ball was already thrown in De Kock’s direction so it makes no sense for him to be pointing towards the bowling end and asking for backup.
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Pakistan bowling coach, Waqar Younis, took to Twitter to hint that De Kock deceived Fakhar during the run while congratulating Fakhar’s tremendous innings. Waqar wrote, “What about this cheeky giggle from Quinton tells you?”
Record breaking inning. Simply Outstanding @FakharZamanLive 🇵🇰. What about this cheeky giggle from Quinton tells you 🤔? #SAvPAK pic.twitter.com/5HD0sLYTk1
— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) April 4, 2021
The West Indian batsman, Sherfane Rutherford, also came to the defense of Fakhar Zaman and questioned the International Cricket Council (ICC) whether this is allowed within the rules of the game.
https://twitter.com/SRutherford50/status/1378757675933122562
The conclusion Fakhar’s record-breaking innings may have been marred by controversy, but his brilliance earned him plaudits from the cricketing fraternity all over the world.
It was a greatest innings ever.. heads of to u fakhar zaman ♥️♥️👍👍🙌🙌
Quiny’s team won the game but Fakahr zaman won the hearts forever 💕
And also when the catch was attempted and the hit the cap on the ground according to rules 5 runs should have been awarded to Pakisran it was caught on camera but nothing doing..
Westerners are and have always been prejudice towards Pakistan. They keep trying to find new ways to let us down and this is one of those attempts.