Watch | Zimbabwe skipper Brendan Taylor given out in a bizzare hit-wicket dismissal

It was a weird dismissal, to say the least as Brendan Taylor, the skipper of Zimbabwe was declared hit wicket after he hit the bails while practising a shadow shot. The incident happened just after he had left the second ball of the 25th over, moments after trying a ramp shot and the keeper had collected it. It wasn’t clear whether the fielding team appealed or the umpires took a ‘Suo Moto Cognizance’, but they did go upstairs and decided to declare the batter hit wicket. 

As expected, Taylor wasn’t happy with the decision and walked back shaking his head vehemently. He was batting at 46 off 47 balls and had hit a four just a delivery prior to the one on which he was declared out. Shoriful Islam was the bowler. 

In the laws of cricket, it says that the ball has to be in play and not dead before the batter hits his stumps. Also, the stumps must be hit while playing a shot and not while shadow practising and thus it did not sit well with many a cricket pundits as to why Taylor was given out.

As far as the second ODI going on at Harare Sports Club is concerned, Zimbabwe managed to resurrect the innings somewhat after the Taylor wicket as Dion Myers and Wesley Medhevere and Sikandar Raza struck vital partnerships to guide the red and gold to 210-6 at the end of 45 overs with five more to play.