Five occasions when batters were dismissed in bizarre circumstances

Angelo Mathews became the first batter in the history of international cricket to be dismissed ‘Timed Out’. This incident took place during the Bangladesh versus Sri Lanka encounter in New Delhi on Monday.

There have been instances in the history of the game where a batter has fallen in some bizarre fashion or the other. Such incidents have gone down in the folklore of cricketing history and become memorable, especially in social media.

Here are the five occasions when batters have fallen bizarrely in international cricket

5. Kevin Pietersen – Hit-wicket out versus West Indies 

There have been many occasions where a batter has been out hit-wicket. This was during a test match in England where Kevin Pietersen was facing off against Dwayne Bravo. The West Indian fast bowler bowled a short ball to Pietersen which hit him on the helmet. What happened next was a pure moment of bizarre dismissal as the helmet fell onto the stumps as Pietersen was given out hit-wicket.

4. Inzamam Ul Haq – Obstructing the field versus India 

The former Pakistani skipper is the subject of many bizarre dismissal incidents and has created an urban legend for himself. This particular bizarre dismissal happened against India during an ODI game in 2006.

Suresh Raina spotted Inzamam-Ul-Haq outside his crease and threw the ball to effect a run-out. Inzamam hit the ball away with his bat as the Indian team appealed and the Pakistani skipper was given out.

3. AB De Villiers – double bounce out versus Bangladesh

Former South African legend AB De Villiers is known to be one of the greatest batters of this era. The man known for his innovative strokeplay too fell to a bizarre dismissal when he was out-caught despite the ball bouncing twice.

The incident happened during a test match in Bangladesh against the hosts. Mohammed Ashraful’s delivery bounced twice as the South African was given out caught.

2. Azhar Ali – run-out versus Australia 

Former Pakistani skipper Azhar Ali was batting well on 64 when he edged a ball from Peter Siddle. The ball raced down to the third-man boundary only to stop short of the boundary cushions.

Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq stood transfixed as Mitchell Starc threw the ball and Tim Paine whipped off the bails. The moment can be classified as a mix between bizarre and brain fade with Azhar Ali heading back to the pavilion. 

1. Jason Roy – Obstructing the field versus South Africa

England was facing South Africa in a T20 match with opener Jason Roy batting on 67 runs off 45 balls. Liam Livingstone tapped the ball to point region as Roy set off looking for a single. The fielder picked the ball and took a huge shy at the stumps and this is where the entire drama began.

Chris Morris immediately appealed to the umpire for the Obstruction of the field. It was seen that Jason Roy had changed his course of running between the wickets. The English batter was seeing the ball all along and came between the ball and the stumps intentionally and was given out.