The 38th match of the ODI World Cup 2023 witnessed a historic moment when Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews was given time out. The 36-year-old all-rounder became the first international player to be timed out. However, the decision didn’t go well with the Sri Lanka team, as they lost the game by 3 wickets. After the game, Mathews went all out against Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan and called his appeal disrespectful to the game.
In the post-match press conference, Matthews lashed out at Shakib and defended his action. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I had two minutes to get ready, which I did, but there was an equipment malfunction, and I didn’t know where common sense had gone. It was disgraceful for Shakib and Bangladesh,” Mathews said during the post-match press conference.
Watch Angelo Mathews’ press conference:
Angelo Mathews speaks in Press conference and is whole fired up ??#SLvBAN pic.twitter.com/GKXg8kf8UH
— Div? (@div_yumm) November 6, 2023
“If they want to play cricket like that and stoop to that level, something is drastically wrong. If I got late, past my two minutes, and the law says I had to get ready in two minutes, I still had five more seconds to go. It was just pure commonsense; I am not saying (doing) ‘Mankading’ or obstructing the field here. It is disgraceful”, says Mathews.
“No regrets at all”, says Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan
Meanwhile, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan came to face the press after a historic game in Delhi. The southpaw faced harsh questions from the media but continued to make his point without a doubt. Speaking about the incident, Shakib said, “One of our fielders came to me and said, if you appeal, the law says he’s out because he hasn’t taken his guard within the time frame.”
“So, then I appealed to the umpires; the umpire told me whether you’re going to call him back or not; if I said he’s out, then you call him back; it doesn’t look good. I said I wouldn’t call him back. We played under-19 together at the ODI World Cup, so I have known Angelo for a long, long time, since 2006. Yeah, unfortunate, but within the rules”, Shakib further added. It’s worth noting that Shakib’s decision didn’t go well with many former cricketers, including legends like Wasim Akram, Gautam Gambhir, and others.
