Why did India start the second innings with five bonus runs against Afghanistan in the third ODI?
India began its chase of 219 in the third ODI with five bonus runs on the board, even before openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma had faced a delivery, against Afghanistan at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
The unsusual occurence was a result of Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi, who has kept Afghanistan in the contest with a fighting century (102 off 131 balls), being penalised for running between the wickets over the restricted area of the pitch.
Shahidi breached the rule for the second time at the end of the 40th over, following which on-field umpires Chris Gaffaney and Rohan Pandit, disallowed the run and handed five penalty runs to the home side.
According to MCC rules, the batting team is not allowed to run on the ‘protected area’, a 5-foot bye 2-foot zone on the centre of the pitch.
Teams are given a warning for the first offence but if the offence is repeated for a second time, the opposition team gets awarded five penalty runs.
Published on Jun 20, 2026
