After Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad on Friday mankaded Pakistan opener Mohammad Huraira in the fourth quarterfinal match of ICC Under-19 World Cup 2020, skipper Farhan Zakhil said that such an act is not in the spirit of the game but asserted that it is within the rules.
In the 28th over of Pakistan’s innings at Willowmoore Park in Benoni where they were chasing 190, left-arm wrist-spinner Ahmad ran out U-19 debutant Huraira at the non-striker end, sparkling the settled debates regarding Mankading.
🚨 MANKAD 🚨
Noor Ahmed used the Mankad mode of dismissal to see off Pakistan’s well-set Muhammad Hurraira for 64!
What do you make of it? 👇 #U19CWC | #AFGvPAK | #FutureStars pic.twitter.com/DoNKksj1KN
— Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) January 31, 2020
“At that time, we realised let’s do something different to build pressure on Pakistan,” Zakhil told ESPNcricinfo, adding, “To be honest, it was not in the spirit of the game.”
The skipper later justified himself saying: “But we wanted to win. It was a very important game for us. The people of Afghanistan wanted us to beat Pakistan. But it’s within the rules – and out is out. You have to stay within the crease. If you want to reduce the pitch length to 16 or 18 yards, then you’re creating a problem for us.
“If you want to make runs and rotate the strike, you must respect the opposition, which is why we went ahead. If we were winning, we probably wouldn’t have done it.”
Riding on Huraira’s 64-run knock on Friday, Pakistan U-19 defeated Afghanistan U-19 by 6 wickets to set up a semifinal clash with India on February 4 at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.
Earlier, a superb bowling effort from Pakistan saw Afghanistan bundled out for 189 runs in 49.1 overs after Zakhil won the toss and opted to bat first.