Veteran Pakistan batter Shoaib Malik said that if he was the skipper of a team, then he would not have appealed for a batter to get 'timed out'. On Monday, November 6, controversy broke out in the World Cup 2023 after Angelo Mathews was the victim of a bizarre dismissal in the match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
When Mathews came out to bat, the strap of his helmet snapped after he took the crease for reportedly more than two minutes. This is when Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan appealed to the umpires against Mathews, who was then sent back to the pavilion without facing a ball.
"Shakib said that one of the fielders gave him the idea of 'timed out'. The fielder went to his captain when the strap of Mathews's helmet snapped. Why did the fielder not do this within two minutes? Think about it," Malik was quoted as saying on A Sports alongside Wasim Akram and Misbah-ul-Haq.
"Every captain has his own views, but if I was the captain, I would not have appealed. Helmet malfunction can happen with anyone," Malik added.
After the match, Mathews slammed Shakib and Bangladesh for their distasteful actions. He also shared his displeasure with the fourth umpire for giving him out wrongly. He shared video evidence as proof of the same, claiming that he was wrongly dismissed, saying that he had five seconds left before he faced issues with his helmet.
"Fourth umpire is wrong here! Video evidence shows I still had 5 more seconds even after the helmet gave away! Can the 4th umpire rectify this please? I mean safety is paramount as I just couldn't face the bowler without a helmet," Mathews wrote on x.com.
Regarding the incident, fourth umpire Adrian Holdstock expressed the belief that batters should ensure they have their equipment prepared before entering the field, rather than causing delays.
"As a batter, you need to make sure that you have all your equipment in place. You have to be ready to receive the ball within two minutes. So technically, you should be there within maybe 50 seconds to make sure all those things are in place before you actually receive the ball," concluded the fourth umpire.
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