R Ashwin survived a run out chance in strange circumstances in the first West Indies-India T20I, with Obed McCoy neglecting to remove the bails despite having the ball in his hands with Ashwin short of crease.

The incident occurred on the third ball of the 17th over of India’s innings, which was sent down by McCoy. Striker Dinesh Karthik played a straight drive down the ground and called for two. His partner Ashwin was struggling to make his ground, with an accurate throw finding its way to McCoy. It seemed like an easy run out opportunity, but a ‘brainfade’ by the bowler gave the off-spinner another life.

McCoy had gathered the ball, but instead of dislodging the bails, he turned around to look at Ashwin, seemingly with no intention of running out the batter. Ashwin made his ground safely, but the proceedings left Darren Sammy, who was commentating, shocked. “What’s going on there?” he asked, while Samuel Badree could only describe it as being “inexplicable”.

Ashwin, who was batting on five of six at that point, smashed a six off Jason Holder in the very next over. He finished on 13 off 10, as India piled up 190-6 in their 20 overs.

The incident left viewers bewildered as well.

Viewers in India can watch the incident here:

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IndiaWest Indies R AshwinSeries EditorialWest Indies v India