IND U19 vs AFG U19 | Twitter and Kundu relieved after mistake cost nine runs before coming down to five

‌Afghanistan had a steady start after opting to bat against India in the semifinal of the U19 World Cup in Harare on Wednesday. The openers Osman Sadat and Khalid Ahmadzai put on 53 runs before number three Faisal Shinozada joined Sadat to steady the innings after the fall of Ahmadzai in the 13th over.

But courtesy of an interesting incident, a couple of overs later, a sedate match sprang back to life. With Deepesh Devendran bowling a short of a length delivery outside the off stump, Faisal got an underedge after attempting a full-blooded cut.

The ball bounced awkwardly in front of wicketkeeper Abhigyan Kundu, who put in a sloppy effort as the ball went through his legs. To his horror, the ball went and hit the helmet placed right behind him before racing to the boundary.

The umpires, after some initial confusion, awarded a boundary along with five penalty runs, which resulted in Afghanistan gaining nine bonus runs from a single legal delivery. This was a rare occurrence and questioned the existing cricketing notions in the minds of the cricket faithful.

But just as they were coming to terms with the newfound rule, the officials rightly confirmed that the ball would cost only five penalty runs, and the boundary was cancelled. Twitter was initially confused as the initial decision challenged their imagination before common sense prevailed.

5 runs!

— Alexandra Rodrigues (@R37389Alexandra) 

Semi!

ICC Under 19 World Cup 2026

India U19 vs Afghanistan U19, 2nd Semi-Final



Afghanistan: 128/2 (27 overs) 

— khel live (@khellive91) 

First wicket!

1st wicket for Indian Cricket Team

Khalid Ahmadzai departs after a well played 31



#U19WorldCup#worldcup#INDvsAFG 

— Huzaifa M (@MemeVibes55) 

Haha!

This looks like a game between Ind U19 vs Afg U 29 

— abhishek (@shadydivus) 

Deepesh strike!

Deepesh Devendran strikes first wicket ! 👊     

— premnath pk 😍♥️🦋🌹💜🍫 (@PremnathPk) 

yeah!

17 years old 🙄     

— $hyju (@linktoshyju) 

Lol!

It's not India vs Afghanistan.

It's Under 19 India vs over 19 Afghanistan.



Let's see if India defeats this Over age cricket team.

Definitely tough for India, but high hopes.  

— Unapologetic Hindu (@itsSKS17) 

17!

Guess the age of the batter ?  

My Guess 26 

— Ajay Kashyap (@imajay90) 

Yeah

Uzairullah needs to be more proactive. Can’t be dead batting everything & go 6 off 15 . Need to rotate more or play some big shots 

— Cricket Tamizhan (@CricketTamizhan)