The Laws of Cricket prevented Ibrahim Zadran from opening the batting during the third ODI against Pakistan.

Pakistan have already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka. Batting first, Pakistan began slowly, reaching 189-6 in 41 overs, with Gulbadin Naib (2-36) and Rashid Khan (1-42) keeping the tourists in check.

However, Salman Agha (38 not out in 31 balls) and Mohammad Nawaz (30 in 25) got quick runs at the death, and Pakistan recovered to 268-8.

Afghanistan’s openers, Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, had added 227 in the second ODI, setting several records in the process, and were expected to open again in the third.

However, Ibrahim had left the field 10 minutes before the innings break, and had not returned in time.

Law 24.2 deals with “Fielder absent or leaving the field of play”. A subsection, Law 24.2.3, states: “If the player leaves the field before having served all of his/her Penalty time, the balance is carried forward as unserved Penalty time.”

Law 25.3 concerns “Restriction on batters commencing an innings”. There, 25.3.1 mentions “If a member of the batting side has unserved Penalty time, see Law 24.2.7 (Fielder absent or leaving the field of play), that player shall not be permitted to bat or act as a runner until that Penalty time has been served. However, even if the unserved Penalty time has not expired, that player may bat after his/her side has lost 5 wickets.”

As a result, Ibrahim was not allowed to open batting (or come out to bat if fewer than five wickets fell inside the first 10 minutes of the Afghanistan innings). Gurbaz walked out with Riaz Hassan instead.

A teenage Riaz had debuted last year in Bangladesh, opening the batting in all three ODIs with Gurbaz in the absence of Zadran, and made 50, 1, and 35. He returned for the second ODI of the ongoing series, but did not get a chance to bat as Afghanistan kept promoting their hitters after their first wicket fell in the 40th over.

Here, he lost Gurbaz in the sixth over, leg-before to Faheem Ashraf. By then, the ten minutes were up, and Ibrahim walked out: it was the first time in his 17-match ODI career that he did not open the batting. At the time of writing, Afghanistan were 22-1 in seven overs.