IND vs AFG, Under-19 World Cup 2026: Why was Afghanistan awarded five penalty runs?
Afghanistan was awarded five penalty runs during Under-19 World Cup 2026 semifinal against India at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday, February 4.
The incident occurred on the final ball of the 17th over of Afghanistan’s innings when Indian quick Deepesh Devendran was bowling to Afghanistan batter Faisal Shinozada. The batter attempted to hit the ball into the leg-side and missed, but wicketkeeper Abhigyan Kundu could not gather the ball.
The ball then struck Kundu’s helmet, which was lying on the ground next to him, and ran away to the boundary. Afghanistan was awarded five penalty runs for the ball striking in helmet in accordance with MCC laws.
According to 28.3.2 of the MCC rule book, the umpire awards five penalty runs to the batting side if the ball strikes a helmet belonging to the fielding side, which has been placed on the ground.
“Any runs completed by the batters before the ball strikes the protective helmet shall be scored, together with the run in progress if the batters had already crossed at the instant of the ball striking the protective helmet,” the clause adds.
However, four byes were not awarded for the ball running away to the boundary as the ball became dead at the point the helmet was struck.
Published on Feb 04, 2026
