With two balls to go in their innings, Afghanistan were 170-7. They contrived to finish 172 all out, with Noor Ahmad holing out conventionally before two comedy run outs came off the last legal ball of the innings.

First, Mujeeb Ur Rahman found himself at the same end as batting partner Naveen-ul-Haq. Arshdeep Singh veered wide on the offside, Naveen swung and missed, and Mujeeb attempted a bye. There was nothing to lose: either it was the last ball of the innings and so a wicket wouldn’t matter, or he would steal the strike if there was a wide. Mujeeb had already shown off his batting prowess in blitzing 21 off nine. But Naveen was unmoved, and India completed a simple run out at the non-striker’s end.

A wide was signalled, and so Naveen took strike again. This time Arshdeep was on target, nailing a yorker which Naveen could only dig out, and this time he did try and pinch a single. Had Jitesh Sharma hit, it would have been a run out, but as it was, the batters tried to run an overthrow. Jaiswal could have tried to throw the stumps down, but instead ran with the ball in his hand, backing himself to beat Farooqi in a footrace.

It turned out to be the right decision, with Jaiswal knocking off the bails just before the bat reached the crease.

The three Afghanistan players involved in the passage – Mujeeb, Naveen and Farooqi – were all recently embroiled in a contract controversy with the Afghanistan Cricket Board. The three were all banned from overseas franchise cricket for two years, though the punishment has been lessened since then.

Watch the two run outs below:

How do you go from 170-8 with one ball remaining to 172 all out? Like this, with two comedy run outs.#INDvAFG pic.twitter.com/anO4aTAkvJ

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 14, 2024