Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel timed out after reportedly falling asleep in dressing room

Rawalpindi: Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel, who struck a half-century against India in the Champions Trophy recently, was timed out after he reportedly fell asleep while waiting for his turn to bat during the final of the President's Cup first-class tournament here.

He has become only the seventh batter overall and first in Pakistan cricket history to be timed out.

The match was held on Tuesday night between State Bank and PTV.

The final was held completely under floodlights due to Ramadan with playing hours from 7.30 PM to 2.30 AM, the first time this has happened in Pakistan's domestic cricket.

Saud was playing for State Bank in the final and he was waiting for his turn to bat when two wickets fell in two balls, pacer Muhammad Shahzad dismissing Umar Amin and Fawad Alam.

"Saud reached the crease beyond the three-minute time limit allowed for a new batter to come in and take guard at the crease," an official at the match said.

He said that PTV skipper, Ammad Butt, appealed to the umpires for a time-out dismissal against Saud when he finally reached the crease, and the appeal was upheld.

Pakistan's white ball player, Irfan Khan Niazi, had to then come in and Shahzad bowled him to complete a hat trick.

The last time a time-out decision was given against a batsman was in the 2023 World Cup game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka when Shakib-ul-Hasan successfully appealed against Angelo Matthews.

Interestingly, Shahzad, after taking a five-wicket haul, also went on to score a hundred for PTV.