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Zimbabwe v Bangladesh

Watch: ‘First ever wicket taken by a ghost’ – Spooky stump disturbance leads to strange hit-wicket review

by Wisden Staff 2 minutes

Watch: A bizarre incident during the second Zimbabwe-Bangladesh T20I saw one of the bails mysteriously drop to the floor on its own, leading to an appeal for hit-wicket.

Batting in the 18th over, Mohammad Saifuddin pulled a delivery to the leg-side and instantly appeared to look behind him, suggesting he had heard a bail fall to the ground while Tendai Chatara was just about to release his delivery.

With one of the bails on the floor, Zimbabwe appealed for hit-wicket, with the on-field umpires then referring to the TV umpire. Replays, however, showed that Saifuddin hadn’t got near the stumps while playing his stroke, and it was most likely the wind that had blown off the bail.

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What added to the confusion was that it wasn’t only that the bail had come off, but the stump seemed to have knocked back in the process, the same way one would expect had a batter trodden on their stumps.

But, as it turned out, it was probably only the wind (or a bowler named Casper) that was to blame and Saifuddin was fine to continue before being dismissed in the final over of the innings.

Zimbabwe won the T20I by 23 runs to level the series at one apiece ahead of the third fixture which will be played on the 25th July. It was the first time the home side had beaten Bangladesh over the course of the tour having lost the only Test match, all three ODIs and the first T20 international.

Zimbabwe set Bangladesh 167 to win thanks to 73 off 57 balls from Wessley Madhevere and a powerful cameo of 34 off 19 from Ryan Burl at the end. With the ball, Zimbabwe produced an impressive all-round display with vital contributions from Blessing Muzarabani (2-21), Luke Jongwe (3-31) and Wellington Masakadza (3-20).

Watch the ‘ghost’ wicket incident here:

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