India-Pakistan T20 World Cup 2021: 'Umpire is sleeping,' Twitter fumes after Shaheen Afridi dismisses KL Rahul

The Pakistani pacer had given a major jolt to Team India by dismissing openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in qick successions in just two overs in the start of the game.

DUBAI: Several Twitter users expressed their anger and shared images of the high-decibel match showing Pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi dismissing opener KL Rahul during the India vs Pakistan T20 World Cup clash in Dubai on Sunday.

The Pakistani pacer had given a major jolt to Team India by dismissing both the openers - Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul - in quick successions in just two overs at the start of the game. 

It emerged that Afridi had overstepped on the delivery he castled Rahul for 3, as per some images which surfaced on the micro-blogging platform, leading to confusion among some Twitter users who were dejected over the development.

Here are some of those tweets-

No ball ,Kl Rahul Not out pic.twitter.com/qBP4QUkhZ5 — Hari_DreamzS (@Harsrineni) October 24, 2021

Why nobody is taking about this
This was a no ball #KLRahul pic.twitter.com/X61Uf9TFKJ — Ankit Yadav (@imankit012) October 24, 2021

@BCCI @PMOIndia @imVkohli @ICC KL Rahul has been given "OUT" on a no ball. pic.twitter.com/rnITWi5pjm — Pawan gupta (@pawangupta2006) October 24, 2021

The craze #KLRahul

@klrahul11 #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/wJY50FzwSi — KLRAHUL TRENDS™ (@KLRahulTrends_) October 23, 2021

Whats use of so much technology if umpires can't judge no ball.
Hard luck @klrahul11 @ICC @T20WorldCup @BCCI @SGanguly99#Cricket #IndvsPak #INDvPAK #KLRahul pic.twitter.com/lQAF6k3OLy — Anurag Chaturvedi (@Anurag_Chat) October 24, 2021

After being put in to bat, Team India got off to the worst start possible. Opener Rohit Sharma was trapped LBW on 0 by Shaheen Afridi in the first over. He was gone for a golden duck. In his next over, Afridi then removed KL Rahul on 3 by disturbing his timber.

At 4, Suryakuamr Yadav played a few shots and got the scoreboard ticking but in the 6th over, he was also dismissed by Hasan Ali. 

Eventually, India reached 36/3 after the Powerplay. In the next four overs, India scored 24 to keep the run rate up. Thanks to Rishabh Pant upping the ante and Kohli playing second fiddle, India began their comeback. Rishabh Pant hit a 30-ball 39, which included two fours and two sixes, before getting dismissed by Shadab Khan.

Skipper Virat Kohli wasn't at his fluent best but his 57 off 49 balls was the saving grace in India's middling score of 151 for seven against Pakistan in their opening Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup here on Sunday.

His 29th half-century in T20 Internationals wasn't as good as some of his other innings but considering that he diffused a potentially troubling situation created by Shaheen Shah Afridi's (3/31 in 4 overs) menacing opening spell, this knock was significant.

Shaheen also did his bit at the death, removing the Indian skipper in the penultimate over. Kohli got support from Rishabh Pant (39 off 30 balls) during a 53-run stand but had to do the bulk of heavy lifting in a pressure cooker scenario, something he has been accustomed to for the past one decade.

His innings had five fours and a six as India managed a score that would give the bowlers at least something to fight for on a track that can't exactly be called batting-friendly. 

Pakistani skipper Babar Azam had earlier won the toss and elected to bowl against India in a Super 12 match in Dubai. Captain Virat Kohli left out Ravichandran Ashwin, Rahul Chahar, Shardul Thakur and Ishan Kishan from the playing XI, with Varun Chakaravarthy making the line-up.

India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan(w), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi.