WATCH: Mushfiqur Rahim fluffs easy run out chance to hand Kane Williamson a lifeline - The twelfth Man Times

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson was on the receiving end of a huge slice of luck thanks to a blunder from Mushfiqur Rahim during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 match between Bangladesh and New Zealand at the Oval on Wednesday. The Bangladesh wicketkeeper disturbed the bails with his arm before he had collected the throw from mid-on which looked like hitting the stumps and then failed to remove a stump from the ground to hand the Williamson a lifeline which turned out to be critical in New Zealand’s narrow 2-wicket win over the Tigers.

It all happened on the second ball of the 12th over when Ross Taylor drove a fuller length delivery from left arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan towards mid-on and scampered through for a quick single that never looked on. Williamson was caught ball watching and had no clue that Taylor was already halfway down the pitch. Tamim Iqbal sent in an accurate throw as Williamson struggled to make his ground at the striker’s end. Williamson was well short of his crease and had almost given up as the throw came in, only to be saved by a howler from Mushfiqur Rahim.

The Bangladesh wicketkeeper came charging down the wicket and ended up dislodging the bails with his elbow before he could collect Tamim’s throw, which in any case looked destined to hit middle stump. Tamim and bowler Shakib Al Hasan knew right away what Mushfiqur had done and wouldn’t have been hopeful when the TV umpire reviewed the play, ruling the batsman not out. The crowd at the Oval, who were all cheering the wicket, were stunned to silence after watching the replays which suggested that the wicketkeeper’s intervention was not needed as the throw would have been a direct hit.

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Williamson would have counted himself to be extremely lucky to still be out there in the middle as he went on to score 40 runs off 72 balls before being dismissed by Mehdi Hasan. The Kiwis could have lost their third wicket with just 61 runs on the board chasing 245 but the blunder from Rahim made sure they were well and truely in the run chase and pretty much favourites to win the game from there. It proved to be critical moment in the game as Williamson and Taylor went on to add 105 runs for the third wicket that helped the Kiwis recover from a wobbly start and go on to win the match by 2 wickets.