The great time out controversy did cost Srilankan batter Angelo Mathews walking down to the pavillion without facing a single ball against Bangladesh in a fierce world cup match. Bangladesh skipper,s Shakib Hasan should have shown some restraint giving a benefit of doubt to Mathews whose helmet strap came off from one side as soon he walked down to bat after a wicket went down.
Though ICC rules clearly mention that if a player from the batting side consumes more than two minutes walking down to bat will be given out still had Shakib withdrawn his appeal than the scheme of things at Kotla couldn’t have been uglier than to what we saw on our mobile and television screens. Situation in between overs became tense with players from both the sides entering into heated exchange with Mathew reminding Shakib of the time after taking the latter,s wicket pointing to an imaginary watch on his wrist.
Once the match got concluded with Bangladesh posting its first victory against Srilanka in a World Cup outing none of the players bothered to shake hands venting their ire out in the open. In the history of International Cricket this a first such recorded episode of a player arbitrarily being given time out. Does it behove well for a not so gentleman,s game? Had Shakib acted fairly and maturely by not getting enraged and over reactive than matters could have been resolved and sorted and Angelo Mathews getting a fair trial amounting to justice.
Instead escalating this probe further proved to be actually annoying and irking the Srilankan side festering this rivalry blowing out of proportion. I understand umpires should have been more gentler towards Mathews than being totally unreceptive. Shakib should shed away his pretensions for the better of his cricketing career as there is a lot left in him to collect, create and claim
Show some mercy to the game.