Shahidi's game awareness earns Afghanistan free-hit

Hashmatullah Shahidi hardly played a shot in anger while scoring 16 runs off his first 27 balls, so it came as a surprise when he heaved wildly at Ravindra Jadeja at the start of the 22nd over of Afghanistan's innings against India in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon.

Shahidi cleared his front leg and shaped to slog-sweep Jadeja over midwicket; instead, the ball skewed away fine off his outside edge, beating short third and running away to the boundary.

But this was not a thoughtless shot born of frustration - quite the opposite. Instead, Shahidi was the only man on the pitch who had noticed that Rohit Sharma had made a blunder when setting his field, and had only stationed four fielders inside the 30-yard circle - short third, short fine leg, midwicket and cover - rather than the mandated five.

Shahidi immediately remonstrated with Michael Gough, the standing umpire, gesturing with four fingers; Gough waited for confirmation, then signalled a no-ball and a free hit. Shahidi had another big swing and holed out to the fielder at long-off, safe in the knowledge that he could not be dismissed.

The boundary was enough to get Shahidi's innings moving. After a relatively slow start, he accelerated through the middle overs during a 121-run partnership with Azmatullah Omarzai, before his eventual dismissal, trapped lbw reverse-sweeping Kuldeep Yadav. He scored 64 off his final 61 balls, making 80 off 88 in all.

It was Shahidi's fourth-highest ODI score, and his highest at a World Cup, beating his 76 against England at Old Trafford four years ago.

It was the second incident of its kind in the first nine matches of this World Cup. During Pakistan's 81-run win over Netherlands, Saud Shakeel spotted an extra man in the deep while facing Roelof van der Merwe's left-arm spin. He alerted the umpires after chipping the no-ball for four over midwicket, then pulled the free hit for six.

Speaking on ESPNcricinfo's Matchday Live show, Dale Steyn recalled a similar incident from the first season of the IPL back in 2008 when Chennai Super Kings' Stephen Fleming was bowled by Vinay Kumar, but reprieved when he informed the umpires that Royal Challengers Bangalore only had three fielders inside the ring instead of four.

"I remember I was standing at square leg and all of a sudden, uncharacteristically, Stephen Fleming having this wild swing… and him then going to the umpires and letting them know that there were only three fielders in the ring, so it should be a no-ball," Steyn said. "It's rare, but smart cricketers often see these things."

Anil Kumble said the incident demonstrated Shahidi's presence of mind and attention to detail. "It is smart cricket," Kumble said. "It is awareness about the field and what you're doing, and that really shows that Hashmatullah was on the dot there, every ball, looking at where the fielders were. As soon as he noticed that, he capitalised on that."