Australia has been handed a “tough” third umpire decision, with a crucial Marcus Stoinis catch to dismiss the dangerous Rashid Khan deemed to have hit the ground.
In the 48th over, with Khan sitting on 17 from 10 deliveries, the gun leg-spinner cut the ball to the deep fielder who dived forward in impressive fashion.
At first glance it seemed Stoinis had pulled off a crucial catch, however third umpire Chris Gaffaney intervened and took his time to make a shock decision.
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He deemed the ball had bounced on the ground, with New Zealand legend Ian Smith explaining the decision.
“This is the deciding factor, the ball going very quickly from right hand to left. He was saying there that the ball had touched the ground,” Smith said.
However, Australian cricketing hero Ricky Ponting labelled the decision a “tough” call and explained the more replays shown, the more doubt was cast on the catch.
“You can play devils advocate here and say how did it get from his right to his left? It had to land on his fingers to get in to his left hand,” Ponting said.
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“That’s a tough one, and I don’t like to say it but it’s probably a benefit of the doubt call.
“There’s probably enough doubt there the more you look at it to say that might have hit the ground, I don’t think you can be convinced it definitely hit the ground, but it might have.”
The missed opportunity proved costly for the Australians, with Khan going on to belt 35 from only 18 balls, helping Afghanistan to 291 from their 50 overs.
Opening batsmen Ibrahim Zadran also become the first Afghan cricketer to score a century at the ODI World Cup, belting 129* from 143 balls.
Meanwhile, the cricketing world has reacted to the decision.
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