The incident happened in the 25th over when Mathews walked out to bat after the dismissal of Sadeera Samarawickrama but found that his helmet strap was broken and immediately signalled for a replacement instead of facing the bowler, Shakib.
New Delhi: Bangladesh captain, Shakib Al Hasan after a narrow 3-wicket victory over Sri Lanka, broke his silence on the controversial ‘Timed-Out’ dismissal, a first of it’s kind in cricketing history. Shakib made it clear that he had no regrets about his decision to appeal.
The incident happened in the 25th over when Mathews walked out to bat after the dismissal of Sadeera Samarawickrama but found that his helmet strap was broken and immediately signalled for a replacement instead of facing the bowler, Shakib.
This prompted Bangladesh to appeal for a ‘time out’. Mathews was seen having an animated discussion with umpire Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth, explaining that he had some issue with the helmet strap. He also approached Shakib, who didn’t withdraw his appeal and the Sri Lankan cricketer was forced to leave the field.
“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!” said Shakib after the match.
“One of our fielders came to me and said that if I appealed, he (Mathews) 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,” added Shakib.
“Angelo came to me and asked if I want to withdraw the appeal. I told him, see Angelo. I know it’s very unfortunate, but I won’t withdraw”, Shakib further added.
“In my 15 years, I have never seen a team going down to this level. Obviously umpires could have checked upstairs (with the TV umpire). I’m not saying that if I would have been there I would have won the match”, Mathews said after the match.
“We need to have common sense, it was clearly a malfunction. I didn’t pull it (strap) and break it. I was in complete shock. Unfortunately it happens with Bangladesh. I don’t think any other team would do that”, he further added.