On last Friday (17th May), senior Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik lost his wicket through a hit-wicket during their ODI match against the home side England at Nottingham.
It was the crucial fourth ODI of the five-match ODI series between England and Pakistan. As Pakistan was 2-0 behind in this ODI series ahead of the Nottingham ODI, they had to win that match to stay in this series.
The home team decided to field first after winning the toss. During that first innings, Shoaib Malik faced that unusual dismissal.
After the opener Imam-ul-Haq‘s early retired hurt, other Pakistan top-order batsmen played great innings. Another opening batsman Fakhar Zaman scored 57 runs off 50 balls while the no.3 batsman Babar Azam scored 115 runs off 112 balls. Also, the next batsman Mohammad Hafeez scored 59 runs off 55 balls.
Coming to bat at the no.5 position, Shoaib Malik played a fast knock at the late of that innings. The 37-year-old scored a firing 41 runs off 26 balls (four fours) before losing his wicket in an unusual style.
In the 47th over of that innings, when the English pacer Mark Wood delivered a slower-ball outside the off-stump, Malik mistakenly smashed the wickets. Malik was batting at very deep in his crease as his bat easily hit the stumps.
It was the second time when Malik lost his wicket through a hit-wicket. His first such incident was during the Dambulla ODI against Sri Lanka on 18th May 2003.
Don't see this too often!
Scorecard & Videos: https://t.co/A8uZh11q6U#EngvPak pic.twitter.com/HxUAK2A5qG
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 17, 2019
Here are some crucial stats of Shoaib Malik’s hit wicket:
i) Shoaib Malik was the second Pakistan batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket for more than once in ODI career. Their former cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq was also hit-wicket twice in ODI career.
ii) Shoaib Malik was the eighth batsman to be dismissed hit-wicket for twice in ODI career. The other seven players are Faoud Bacchus (West Indies), Allan Border (Australia), Sherwin Campbell (West Indies), Romesh Kaluwitharana (Sri Lanka), Maurice Odumbe (Kenya), Kumar Sangakkara (India) and Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan). Till the date, no players have faced three hit-wicket dismissals in ODI career.
It was a very crucial wicket for England. Finally, Pakistan managed to score 340/7 in 50 overs. Pakistan became the first team to score three consecutive 340+ runs in ODI cricket.
England won that thrilling ODI
However, Pakistan failed to win that vital match as England won that match by three wickets (with three balls remaining). The opening partners Jason Roy and James Vince put a brilliant 94-run partnership. Vince scored 43 runs off 39 balls in that innings.
Meanwhile, Roy stretched his innings to the brilliant century which he completed in 75 balls. The right-handed opening batsman scored 114 runs (89 balls) before losing his wicket. Joe Root also scored 36 runs off 41 balls, and he had a 107-run partnership with Roy for the second wicket.
Later, England lost some wickets at regular intervals that put them under pressure. However, Ben Stokes saved that game along with the late partnerships with Tom Curran and Adil Rashid. While Stokes and Curran had a 61-run partnership for the seventh wicket, Stokes and Rashid had an unbroken 22-run partnership for the eighth wicket.
Curran and Rashid both played impressive cameos in that innings. Curran scored 31 runs off 30 balls while Rashid remained not out on 12 runs off eight balls. However, Stokes played a significant role for that victory as he was not out on 71 runs off 64 balls (five fours and three sixes).
With this victory, England has taken a 3-0 lead in this ODI series with one match to go.