Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc suffered a brain fade on Tuesday when he walked off the field after getting caught behind against Rashid Khan despite not edging the ball in Match 39 of the ICC World Cup 2023 in Mumbai.
The incident occurred in the 19th over with Australia reeling at 91 for 6 when a googly from Rashid went past Starc's bat. The ball seemed to have taken a faint outside-edge and was caught after three attempts by Afghan wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil.
The on-field umpire raised his finger after Rashid and the entire Afghanistan team went up in an appeal along with the thousands of cheering fans at the Wankhede Stadium.
Starc seemed unsure if he had edged it or not, he had a brief chat with his batting partner Glenn Maxwell at the other end before walking off towards the Aussie dressing room.
But replays later showed that the ball had missed the bat and there was a flat line on the snicko-meter.
The wicket further dented Australia's run chase after Afghan fast bowlers stunned the top-order which was followed by a couple of wickets from Rashid in quick succession.
Australia need 292 in 50 overs to beat Afghanistan and seal their spot in the semi-finals but victory seems unlikely for the five-time champions at the moment as Afghan spinners are dominating proceedings.
Maxwell lone hope for Australia
Maxwell is waging a lone battle and has gone past his 25th ODI fifty but he's losing partners at the other end.
Earlier in the day, a brilliant century from Ibrahim Zadran helped Afghanistan post a challenging 291 for 5 in 5 overs after electing to bat first. Zadran top-scored with 129 not out while Rashid (35*) and Rahmat Shah (31) also made useful contributions to the team's total.
Zadran's century is the first by an Afghanistan batter in ODI World Cup history.
