MOMENTS

No obstruction

In the 13th over of Zimbabwe's innings, Brendon Taylor hit a ball firmly back at Bangladesh medium pacer Ariful Haque, and by the time he had finished the shot the batsman was well out of the crease. Ariful, seeing the opportunity threw the ball straight back at the stumps and it hit Taylor's pads even as he was retreating. Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim started appealing immediately and was joined by Ariful. Taylor was still out of the crease, with hands raised as if in surrender when the stump-bound ball hit him. The Tigers were apparently appealing for an obstructing-the-field decision. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena conferred with leg umpire Masudur Rahman, and was having none of it despite the continued protests from Mushfiqur. The umpires were right because the law states that the obstruction has to be wilful -- while Taylor was in the path of the ball, he really had no choice but to stand his ground as it all happened in an instant.

Raza's intentions

Just after having hit a straight six off left-arm spinner Nazmul Islam, the experienced Taylor had a brain fade moment as he swiped across the line in the very next delivery and skied a simple catch for Mushfiqur to happily settle under. At 138 for three in the 27th over, having just lost their form batsman, conventional wisdom may have dictated that incoming batsman Sikandar Raza knock a few balls around to get used to conditions. Instead, he danced down the wicket and cleanly hit his first ball over for six over long on. The message was clear -- this is a belter of a wicket and Zimbabwe were ready to go after the bowling.

A comical run-out that wasn't

In the 37th over, Sean Williams knocked a Mashrafe Bin Mortaza delivery to the off side and Raza darted off from the non-striker's end. A loud call of 'No!' from Williams caused Raza to turn back hurriedly and plant his bat back inside the crease, or so he thought. When he looked down, he was horrified to see that the grounded bat was a good half foot from safety and he stretched clumsily to get it in the crease. The ball missed the stumps, but replays showed that Raza's bat was in the air when the ball passed the wickets -- meaning that the usually agile Raza would have been the victim of an embarrassing and comical run out if the ball had hit.