Mahmudullah’s Trouser Malfunction is not the Only Time When a Cricketer’s Pants Came off and Made us Giggle

Cricket is undoubtedly a Gentleman’s game and its players therefore are expected to be disciplined when it comes to keep their outfits in order; nevertheless, there are moments when desperate actions by the players put them in awkward positions to experience wardrobe malfunctions that can entertain the spectators with sheer amusements. Today, Bangladeshi player Mahmudullah faced a similar mishap as his trouser came off when he tried to stop a shot of Matt Henry off Mustafizur Rahman. Mahmudullah successfully stopped the ball and prevented the boundary but a faux pas caused his checkered undergarment (just like his career?) enjoy couple of seconds of unanticipated airtime. The all-rounder fixed his misplaced wardrobe quickly and chuckled innocently on his own misfortune.

However, this is not the first of its kind moment in the history of cricket and surely not the last either. Let us recall five such incidents.

Neil McKenzie (South Africa v Australia, 3rd ODI at Melbourne, August 20, 2000)

South African Neil McKenzie was caught with his pants down during the third and final ODI  during their Australian tour on August 20 at Docklands Stadium, Melbourne. Michael Bevan pulled a short ball from Roger Telemachus over the mid-wicket. McKenzie came running to stop the ball from touching the boundary ropes and dived full stretch only to lose his pants. However, he got up quickly and pulled it up.

Lou Vincent (New Zealand v West Indies, 5th ODI at Auckland, March 4, 2006)

Vincent, a talented batsman marred his career with an involvement of match fixing but he had a few other embarrassing moments on the field too. He lost his pants while diving and fielding at the long on boundary. Despite the position he found himself in, the player, unmindful of the embarrassment, got up and threw the ball.

Michael Vaughan (England v West Indies 4th Test at Chester-le-street, June 2007)

West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul drove a Steve Harmison delivery and England skipper Vaughan stationed himself at the mid-off dived to stop it but the ball evade him to boundary rope and in the process his trousers came off.

Virat Kohli (India v Sri Lanka 2nd match of tri-nation series, Dhaka on January 5 2010)

Sri Lankan Thisara Perera made a straight drive off Ashish Nehera with Sri Lanka needing just 6 off 16 balls but Virat Kohli desperately dived near the rope of the sight screen to save two runs by saving the boundary but his trouser got loose and despite the losing situation Yuvraj Singh could not stop himself burst out laughing.

Yasir Shah (Pakistan v South Africa, 29th match of World Cup 2015 at Auckland on March 7)

During the 27th over of South African chase Shahid Afridi bowled a faster delivery down the leg side and a faint tickle was racing to boundary but Yasir made a valiant attempt to save it. The wretched Pakistani could neither save the boundary nor his pants as those came off while he dived.