Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis lashed out at the on-field umpires for not using their common sense as Angelo Mathews was given out for not taking the strike two minutes despite his helmet malfunction when he took the crease. Mendis felt that the umpires should have intervened as the situation escalated in the middle.
"It's very disappointing. When Angelo came into bat, there were 5 seconds left on the clock. He realised that the strap of his helmet was broken. I feel that the umpires should have stepped up. It was common sense and it's disappointing that the umpires didn't make the right decision at that point of time," said Mendis in the post-match presentation.
Mendis rued injuries to main players as Sri Lanka suffered their sixth defeat of World Cup 2023 and slipped to the eighth position which has put their Champions Trophy 2025 qualification in jeopardy.
"When we were coming in, there were a couple of injuries to our main players. So we had to change the combinations. We made some mistakes early in the tournament and we would have done better in all departments," the wicketkeeper-batter said.
The big positive from the match was Charith Asalanka's maiden World Cup hundred which helped Sri Lanka post 279 on the board.
"Charith played a brilliant innings. But I feel we fell 30-40 runs short. 320 would have been a good total on this surface. I'm happy that Pathum, Dilshan, and Sadeera have done well. We have shown some promise in the tournament. In the future, we will have a good team to show promise," the 28-year-old said.
Later, in the post-match press conference, Mathews lashed out at Shakib and the Bangladesh team for the "disgraceful act".
“I have done nothing wrong. It’s a disgraceful act from Shakib and Bangladesh. There was no common sense at that moment. This is the lowest an opposition team stooped to in my 15-year international career,” the all-rounder said.
“You need to respect people who respect us. They have to respect the game itself. All of us are ambassadors of this beautiful game including the umpires. If you don't respect and not use your common sense, what more can you ask for.”
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