SA vs SL | Twitter laughs as Andile Phehlukwayo voluntarily offers two extra runs to batting team out of embarrassment

10/07/2023

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Dropped catches often have the player at blame wishing the ground swallowed them up whole, thus occupying the top echelon of humiliating acts to commit in cricket. However, Andile Phehlukwayo managed to go even one step further on Saturday by losing all sense of awareness after his missed chance.

South Africa were well on top right through their opening World Cup encounter against Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium as the Lions still required well over 200 runs in their chase of 429 with just 20 overs and five wickets in hand. As commendable as the Proteas were for most parts with the ball given the nature of the track, the side did commit multiple erroneous blunders in the field, each of which seemed worthy to be in the tournament's best bloopers compilation when it comes to an end. However, the comedy seemed to peak in the 28th over, all because of substitute fielder Andile Phehlukwayo and his absurd antics.

The all-rounder was stationed at deep fine leg in the 28th over when a top edge from Charith Asalanka's bat off Marco Jansen came flying towards him. Phehlukwayo did well to cover the ground quickly and get in position to grab the ball but a slight misjudgement meant he failed to get under the Kookaburra cleanly and it ultimately popped out of his hand. In the process, the 27-year-old went over the boundary line and had shame written all over his face for letting go of the opportunity. Phehlukwayo thus proceeded to pick up the ball and throw it back to the middle, signalling with his hands it was a six to avoid the rigours of a boundary check.

However, the player had completely failed to realize the ball had fallen inside the playing area. By picking the ball from beyond the limits, he had awarded the opposition an unnecessary four. Fortunately for him, the umpires ignored his signal to eventually declare just a four for Sri Lanka but the sheer embarrassment experienced by Andile Phehlukwayo and its consequences had Twitterati in splits.

What was Andile Phehlukwayo thinking??

— Ishan Martinez (@IshanMarti66419)

Anger!!

Arghhha man Andile Phehlukwayo sies man
— omsihcaM sisairytaS🇿🇦 (@ewstemeeK_)

Packed!

It's full packed out there. Indians are crazy for cricket. 🤌
— RVCJ Media (@RVCJ_FB)

Big W

-Big wicket for South Africa.

-L Nigidi taken aslanka wkt.

-Could be a last hope has gone.
— Imran Hossain IH/इमरान हुसैन 🇮🇳 (@ImranHo19188525)

Well played

Well played, Charith Asalanka.

He scored a brilliant innings, he scored 79 runs from 65 balls including 8 fours and 4 Sixes against South Africa in big run chase in this World Cup - A brilliant innings from Asalanka!
— 🇮🇳ÆTHÎYÂ (@athiya_2)

demolished

Sri lanka demolished by south Africa... International level batting a lesson for no 1 Babar 😜
— Dr Muhammad Shazad (@DrMuhammadShaz1)

Strong performance

A one sided World Cup ODI match between South Africa and Sri Lanka, showing strong performance by Afican Team
— A Million Little Things (@UnseenShreds1)

True

He is exactly te character South Africa needs at this point. I thought Duanne Olivier could have been that guy but hey, this is South Africa.
— Harsh (@bitter_parker_)

Unreal

No but that was an unreal start to World Cup campaign, can 2023 be the year South Africa conquer their daemons and win an event
— Gurpreet Dadwal (@dadwal_gurpreet)

Mountain target!