Third umpire hampered Pak in Karachi?

A miscalculation by television umpire Asad Rauf could also have played a role in Pakistan's five-run defeat in the first one-day international against India in Karachi, a media report said at Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

The Pakistan team was not happy with the fact that a call by Rauf had deprived Moin Khan of the strike at a crucial time of the match in the penultimate over when Pakistan were just ten runs short of victory, the report said.

Also Read Biggest over of my life: Nehra Kaif's catch was the key: Ganguly How Sachin entertains himself

"When Mohammad Kaif took that brilliant catch to dismiss Shoaib Malik with the total on 340 on the fifth ball of the  49th over Moin had crossed over from the non-striker's end and he should have taken the strike on the final ball of the over instead of the inexperienced Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan," a team source was quoted as saying by 'The News' daily.

The report said Australian umpire Simon Taufel did not allow Moin the strike on the final ball as he was told by the  television umpire that Rana Naveed should take strike.

"Taufel went by what the third umpire had to say, thinking Moin had not crossed over when Kaif took the catch. But the problem was that Rauf miscalculated the number of balls in that over and thought that the over was complete. But since Moin had crossed over he told Taufel that not Moin but Naved should take the strike," the source said.

Rauf only realised his mistake when he saw Zaheer Khan continuing with his over but made no attempt to convey to  Taufel that he had made a mistake," the source said.

The mistake saw Naved taking a single off the last ball of the over which kept him on strike in the final over.

Rauf's decision has raised questions about his nomination by the Pakistan Cricket Board on the International Cricket Council (ICC) panel of umpires.

Although Pakistan manager Haroon Rasheed said the team had not lodged any complaint to match referee Ranjan Madugalle on the mistake made by the television umpire, the team source said Madugalle had pulled up Rauf for his mistake.

Rauf will be supervising in the second match in Rawalpindi on Tuesday along with Australian Simon Taufel.