Hyderabad: With the batters becoming more aggressive in their approach and pitches becoming more flatter, bowlers are usually at the receiving end of the onslaught nowadays. The batters try to up the ante consistently which results in them going after the bowlers. The phenomenon has resulted in the increased economies of the bowlers. They leak some runs after bowling at least a few legitimate deliveries. In pursuit of restricting the batters, the bowlers might sometimes lose control of things and bowl a few extras as well.
However, 10 years back, the Asia Cup match between Pakistan and Bangladesh witnessed a bizarre phenomenon as the former’s bowler conceded 8 runs without bowling a single delivery. Let us deep dive into how it happened and what led to such a weird occurrence.
Abdur Rehman concedes 8 runs from 0 balls
The left-arm spinner from Pakistan bowled three consecutive full tosses to clock the figures of 0-0-8-0. The spinner was brought into the attack in the 11th over at Mirpur's Shere Bangla National Stadium in the Asia Cup 2014 fixture against Bangladesh. The first delivery from the spinner sailed well above the waist height of the batter as the ball slipped out of his hand.
Imrul Kayes was on strike and the next delivery from Rehman was a beamer which the batter pulled towards deep mid-wicket. The fielder took the catch to dismiss the batter but the replays confirmed that it was a no-ball.
The bowler is usually taken out of the attack after bowling more than one full toss above the waist according to the International Cricket Council(ICC) regulations but South African umpire Johan Cloete allowed Rehman to continue his over after a brief discussion with Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq.
The left-arm spinner then came round the wicket looking for his first legitimate delivery but even his third attempt went berserk. Pakistan spinner bowled a full toss at the body of Anamul Haq who pulled it towards deep midwicket for a boundary. It was another no-ball this time around and the batting team added five runs to their scorecard. Also, Rehman was removed from the attack.
