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. Due to certain issues with Mathews’s helmet, he took some time to get it changed which resulted in Mathews taking more than two minutes to face the first ball. The umpires had to term him ‘timed out’ after an appeal from Bangladesh Skipper Shakib-Al-Hasan. This incident resulted in huge controversy as Mathews requested Shakib to take back his appeal as he was just changing his helmet. But Shakib didn’t listen to him & finally, Mathews had to walk off the field getting timed out.
The entire incident resulted in massive outrage among cricket enthusiasts as most of them termed it as against the spirit of the game. Even Mathews went on to criticize umpires & Shakib openly on social media. 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.
However, Shakib-Al-Hasan didn’t reveal the exact identity of the fielder in charge. But as per the video clips, it was Najmul Hossain Shanto as he was seen talking to the skipper and appealing during the entire incident.
How did Angelo Mathews react to getting ‘timed out?’
Mathews on Monday called Bangladesh’s decision to dismiss him via a time out’ as disappointing & against the spirit of the game. He also said that Shakib’s appeal left him completely shocked. In fact, Mathews’s wicket proved to be a major game-changer as Bangladesh was able to officially knock Sri Lanka out of the World Cup with a three-wicket win in a dramatic match that 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.
He also said that if Bangladesh wants to play cricket like that & fall down to that level they are against the spirit of the game. He also said that if he surpassed two minutes the lay says that he had to get ready in two minutes but still, he had five more seconds left for the time limit to get over. He also said that he was not doing ‘Mankading’ or obstructing the field it’s really disgraceful, Mathew concluded his statement.
Also read, Shakib-Al-Hasan ruled out of Bangladesh’s CWC 2023 Match
