Watch: Mohammad Nabi's pinpoint throw sends well-set Bhanuka Rajapaksa back after interesting run-out
Quickly collecting an overthrow, Mohammad Nabi made amends for his initial mistake with a superlative run-out.
Sri Lanka's miserable outing with bat in hand against Afghanistan at the start of their Asia Cup 2022 campaign continued with the well-set Bhanuka Rajapaksa getting dismissed after a horror run-out in Dubai on Saturday (August 27).
Rajapaksa was out off a pinpoint direct throw at the stumps from opposition skipper Mohammad Nabi after a desperate attempt to return to the bowling end following a call for two runs by his batting partner Chamika Karunaratne.
Playing Nabi's drifter down leg side, Karunaratne nudged the ball away from the short-thrid fielder and quickly sprinted across for the single. The fielder normally threw the ball at Nabi's end while Rajapaksa made it to the batting end.
Just then, however, Nabi ended up missing the ball, which encouraged Karunaratne to ask Rajapaksa to come in for a quick second run. To the two batter's surprise, Nabi was even quicker to gather the ball and make a throw at the stumps, finding Bhanuka Rajapaksa well short of his ground.
Mohammad Nabi's rocket throw sends Bhanuka Rajapaksa back
The run-out took place near the halfway mark through the 13th over in the Sri Lankan first-innings batting effort. Tapping Mohammad Nabi across for a single, Karunaratne asked Rajapaksa to go a risky second run after seeing the bowler fail to initially collect a throw from the short-third region.
Watch: Controversy: Shocking third umpire call leaves Sri Lanka's top order in shambles against Afghanistan
But Karunaratne was left to rue his mistake soon as he realised Nabi is super quick to collect the overthrows. The Afghan captain then made a perfect aim for the stumps at the bowling end, where Karunaratne's batting partner Rajapaksa was found well short of his ground.
— Yoloapp (@Yoloapp2) August 27, 2022
The wicket would've pained the Sri Lankans a lot since it was their well-set batter dismissed on 38 off 29 at a team score of 68 for 5. The Lankan Lions were reduced to a horrible 6 for 68 after losing the toss and being put into bat first on a good batting surface in Dubai.
The feeling would've been one of complete contrast for the Afghans, eyeing a successful start to their maiden Asia Cup T20I campaign. The Asian darkhorses had failed to make the cut for the tournament's inaugural edition played in Bangladesh in 2016.