Umpire Aleem Dar stops play in second ODI to rectify an uncommon error: Pakistan faced New Zealand in the second ODI of the five-match series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday (April 29). The Men in Green emerged victorious in the contest by seven wickets.

Winning the toss, Pakistan elected to bowl first in the clash. However, the game was halted after the first over of the innings due to the incorrect measurements of the 30-yard circle. The uncommon error was noticed by experienced umpire Aleem Dar, who resolved the issue by measuring the distance with steps. Notably, it took almost six minutes to fix the measurements before the play was resumed.

They really changed the 30-yard circle during the match, that was hilarious! 😂 #PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/7bKhKHgLdt

— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) April 29, 2023

 

In First inning New Zealand scored 336 runs for the loss of five wickets in 50 overs. Daryl Mitchell scored a brilliant century of 129 runs off 119 balls for the Blackcaps, with Tom Latham also contributing 98 runs off 85 balls. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Haris Rauf was the most successful bowler for his team, picking up four wickets for 78 runs in his quota of ten overs.

In response, Pakistan chased down the set target comfortably, scoring 337 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 48.2 overs. Fakhar Zaman played a remarkable innings of 180 runs off 144 balls for the hosts. Fakhar was well supported by Mohammad Rizwan, who contributed valuable 54 runs off 41 balls in the run chase.

Although Pakistan took the (2-0) lead in the series by winning the second ODI, the unusual and comical occurrence of the inaccurate 30-yard circle measurement saga during the first innings resulted in Pakistan Cricket’s widespread ridicule on social media.

Here’s how fans reacted:

You won't see this very often – a hold up in play after the umpires noticed that the 30 yard circle markers had been placed incorrectly #PAKvNZ #Cricket pic.twitter.com/NwwYsUwVBe

— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) April 29, 2023

For the first time seeing in international match that 30-yard circle being wrongly measured and corrected between the match.

Just Pakistan Things ☕️ 😂#PAKvNZ || https://t.co/BPuaOvJz0f

— Sir BoiesX 🕯 (@BoiesX45) April 29, 2023

Cant place 30 yard circle properly and they want to Host Asia Cup 😀😀!! #PAKvNZ

https://t.co/BPWcJzBcUW

— Rainbow Salt (@Rainbowsalts91) April 29, 2023

A day without humiliation is a day wasted in Pakistan. 🤣

These are the standard of International Cricket in Pakistan. Wrong marking of 30 yard circle changed in middle of the match. @TheRealPCB is organizing a gully cricket. pic.twitter.com/zRLiZKb1z7

— Nirvesh Yadav (@MYadavNirvesh) April 30, 2023