The ICC World T20 2020 qualifiers are going on in full swing. The 14-team tournament being played at the United Arab Emirates will narrow down six more teams to play the mega-event next year in Australia. These 6 teams will further compete against Bangladesh and Sri-Lanka to register a place in the super-10 group. The tournament has already turned-out rather exciting; many of the underdog teams have won against the more-recognized teams. At the moment, Netherlands and Canada top their respective group tables. The tournament has just about reached its halfway stage with 30-more matches to go.
Among the 14-competitors in the tournament is the African-country of Nigeria. Originally Zimbabwe was going to participate in the tournament, but ICC recently suspended the Zimbabwe Cricket. The ICC called in Nigeria as last moment replacements. Unfortunately, Nigeria haven’t really made the best use of their wild-card entry so far. They conceded 184 against Jersey in their first game, and replied with only 115 runs with 39 runs being the highest score. There fortunes only worsened in the next game as Canada triumphed over them by 50-runs. However, more so than any of the actual cricket action, the game captured a lot of attention for a different ‘highlight’ altogether.
Unexpected Break in Nigeria’s Innings
Nigeria lost their openers Daniel Ajekun (2 off 8) and Leke Oyede (golden-duck) early in the chase. Sulaimon Runsewe and Chimezie Onwuzulike got into the rebuilding act with a promising 57-run partnership. However, the partnership took a rather unexpected break when Sulaimon had to rush from the field to use the toilet!
The umpires took some time to register, but once they did, had a good laugh on the situation. Comically enough, their captain Ademola Onikoyi was just about to walk out when Sulaimon finally appeared, still adjusting his pants. The umpires just couldn’t stop laughing about the situation while the Nigerian team too had some laughs and applauded Sulaimon for the moment of comedy. Here’s a video of the incident:
— Cricket (@cricketvideos13) October 22, 2019
Unfortunately Sulaimon’s return didn’t last much long as Saad bin Zafar dismissed him soon afterwards. The 57-run partnership was in-fact the lone consolation in Nigeria’s innings as they ultimately posted 8/109, losing the game by 50 runs.
Do you recall any similar funny instances? Should the ICC extend the duration of the innings’ break to prevent repetition of such instances? Let us know what you think in the comments.