Watch- PNG's Norman Vanua's bat gets stuck inches away of the popping crease, batsman gets run out

Papua New Guinea tailender Norman Vanua endured an unlucky run-out earlier today by Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.  

Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea locked horns against each other earlier today in what was both of the team's second-last Group C games. Rashid Khan's side only needed a victory and 2 points today to ensure that they are going through to the Super 8s with one more group match still to play. 

Rashid Khan and Co. will be taking on the West Indies in their final Group C game before taking on the heavyweights in the Super 8 stages. As for the PNG, they have been knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 from the group stages along with first-timers Uganda and 2021 runners-up New Zealand. 

How did Norman Vanua get run out by Rashid Khan?

Papua New Guinea were batting first after winning the toss at the Brian Lara cricket stadium and as expected, they got off to a very poor start. Half of the PNG batters had gone to the dressing room within the powerplay and their only aim after that was to ensure that they set up a triple-digit target for Afghanistan. 

While doing so, tailender Norman Vanua lost his wicket in the worst way possible. In the first ball of the 13th over bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai, Vanua struck the ball towards mid-on where Rashid Khan was on alert mode. The leg-spinning bowling all-rounder quickly picked the ball up and threw it toward the non-striker's end where Vanua was running. 

As the ball came in and struck the stumps, Norman Vanua dragged his bat into the ground but what happened afterwards was very unfortunate. While Rashid Khan's bull's eye throw was spot on, Vanua's bat got stuck right before entering the crease. It was almost as if the cricket god didn't want Vanua to cover the ground as his bat stuck just a few meters before the white line. 

Many would have thought that the 3rd Umpire would spare Vanua because his bat got stuck but TV umpire Richard Illingworth felt otherwise. He flashed the signal out in the Jumbo LED screen and Norman Vanua's innings came to an end for a 7-ball 0. With that, Papua New Guinea got reduced to 7 wickets for just 50 runs. 

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Later on, PNG was able to score 45 runs more as they were restricted to 95 runs by the potent Afghanistan bowling line-up. 

Afghanistan to face India and Australia in the Super 8s 

Afghanistan chased the target of 96 within the first ball of the 16th over and went on top of the Group C standings ahead of the match against West Indies. Regardless of the result of their game against the Windies, the Afghanis are all set to lock horns with giants India and Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup Super 8s. 

All the teams which will qualify for the next round will play 3 matches and Afghanistan's 3rd and last opponent for the Super 8s is yet to be determined.