ICC World T20 | Twitter reacts to 'most ridiculous shot' in cricket history involving lost shoe, two pitches and a brutal fall

10/18/2022

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How many times have you seen a batter fall onto an adjacent pitch with no shoe on his foot and in agonizing pain while scoring a world-class boundary? You can make the count at least one following Pathum Nissanka's bizarre scoop shot to put away a slower ball against the UAE on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka landed in deep trouble in the death overs following a fantastic start against the United Arab Emirates in their group stage fixture at Geelong, courtesy of a hattrick from Karthik Meiyappan causing a sudden collapse. Nevertheless, opener Pathum Nissanka stood tall throughout, having reached his fifty in 45 balls in the same over as the three dismissals and looked primed to drive his team to a par score come what may.

His dedication to scoring culminated in perhaps the most bizarre-looking shot in cricket on the first ball of the 18th over off the bowling of Zahoor Khan while the score read 123/6. The UAE pacer bowled a slow half-tracker beyond the tramline in an attempt to outfox the on-song Nissanka but it was simply the batter's day and he was not going to succumb to anything.

Nissanka walked across the pitch and waited for the ball patiently but in the process stepped on one foot with another, thus breaking free of a shoe. Nevertheless, he stayed committed to the idea and eventually scooped the ball over backward square even while he was in flight mid-air, having tripped over the fallen shoe. While the ball sailed away to the boundary, Nissanka was left with a bruised hip and foot having stumbled over to the adjacent pitch strip, thus completing a one-of-a-kind shot in a crunch situation. He eventually ended up with 74(60) taking his team to a defendable 152/8.

The internet could not help but applaud the lengths Nissanka was willing to go to for an additional four runs and took to social media to express their appreciation despite the overall comical sight.

Shot of the tournament!

— Richard (@Richard10719932)

Crazy effort

Some efforts in the shot by Pathum Nissanka - slips and his shoe out.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra)

LOL

Nissanka loses his shoe!
— Adam NBA (@AdamNBA5)

Shoe smashing shot

What do we call this Shot from ?

Would need some cricketing experts like to name this?

4 runs nonetheless

This keeps u entertained at every stage
— Ronak Kapadia (@ronak_kapadia)

Absolutely bizzare

Strange scenes at the game between SRI LANKA 🇱🇰 and UAE 🇦🇪

PATHUM NISSANKA played the scoop over short fine leg but ending up loosing his boots 👌😅

Still conceded four
— Farooq Alam (@AlamFAR786)

Calm and composed

Pathum Nissanka with a cool head hitting some quality cricket shots
— Priyansu (From 🏠) (@Roy_Priyansu_45)

This game has everything

Shoe smashing shot from Nissanka 😂 this game has everything man 😂🤣 almost injured his leg with the spikes as the shoe came off.
— Gaurav Nandan Tripathi (@Cric_Beyond_Ent)

The story of a lost shoe