Shakib Al Hasan (L) and Najmul Hossain Shanto© X (formerly Twitter)
Angelo Mathews became the first cricketer in the history of international cricket to be dismissed ‘timed out’ during the Cricket World Cup 2023 match between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Mathews was not ready to face his first ball within two minutes of the previous dismissal and the umpire had no option other than giving him out following an appeal from Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan. Following the incident, Mathews has slammed the entire ordeal and Shakib has been criticised by fans and experts. However, Shakib revealed after the match that the appeal was not originally his idea.
“One of our fielders came to me and said that if I appealed, he would be out. The umpire asked me if I was serious. It’s in the laws; I don’t know if it’s right or wrong. I felt like I was at war. Whatever I had to do, I did it. There will be debates. Today that (the time out) helped, I won’t deny that!” he explained.
While the exact identity of the fielder in question was not revealed, it was most probably Najmul Hossain Shanto as he was seen talking to the skipper and appealing during the entire incident.
Mathews on Monday called Bangladesh’s decision to dismiss him via ‘time out’ as “disgraceful” and said it had left him in “complete shock”. Mathews became the first batter to be timed out in international cricket as Bangladesh officially knocked Sri Lanka out of the World Cup with a three-wicket win in a dramatic match which was held amid severe air pollution in New Delhi on Monday.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. I had two minutes to get ready which I did but there was an equipment malfunction and I don’t know where commonsense (had) gone. It was disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh,” Mathews said during the post-match press conference.
“If they want to play cricket like that, stoop to that level, it is something wrong drastically. If I got late, past my two minutes and the law says I have to get ready in two minutes, I still had five more seconds to go. It was just pure common sense, I am not saying (doing) ‘Mankading’ or obstructing the field here, It is absolutely disgraceful,” the veteran Sri Lankan cricketer said.
(With PTI inputs)
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