Meanwhile, assuming crisis had been averted, Russell was casually jogging to the nonstrikers end.
But in a case of extreme bad luck, the ball had actually ricocheted off the stumps at the strikers end and somehow flew down the entire pitch and knocked the bails off the stumps at Russell's end.
Russell was way out of his crease and could barely believe it when he was run-out. He could only offer a wry smile as he had to make his way back to the pavilion for seven.
Cricket fans said they had never seen anything like it as footage of the unusual run-out went viral on social media.
Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer tweeted: "I've been playing cricket and watching cricket all my life. Never have I seen something like this. Just unbelievable."
Ex-Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar said: "Well well well. This is very unlucky ….can't believe that Russell was run out at the nonstrikers end."
Harsh Jain added: "This is literally the FREAKIEST run-out in the history of cricket!!!"
The Khulna Tigers won the match by five wickets as they chased down the target of 183 set by Russell's Ministry of Dakar.
While Russell was hard done by, he was fairly run out, because the ball was not dead when it hit the stumps at the nonstrikers end.
According to the laws of cricket, the ball becomes dead when:
- it is finally settled in the hands of the wicketkeeper or of the bowler
- a boundary is scored
- a batter is dismissed. The ball will be deemed to be dead from the instant of the incident causing the dismissal.
