A new chapter was added to the simmering rivalry between the Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cricket team on Monday when Angelo Mathews became the first player in history to be ‘timed out’ at the international level.
The result of it was Mathews blasting Bangladesh and their captain Shakib Al Hasan in what was an explosive media interaction soon after their World Cup 2023 match in New Delhi.
Mathews was in no mood for any diplomacy as he termed Bangladesh’s act as ‘disgraceful’ while adding he hasn’t seen anyone ‘stoop down to that level’ to take wickets in his career.
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“It was obviously disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh,” Mathews said. “If they want to take wickets like that and stoop down to that level, there’s something wrong, drastically.”
Mathews left the field in anger after an appeal from Shakib for a ‘timed out’ resulted in the former’s dismissal at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Mathews, who argued with the on-field umpire and Shakib explaining he reached the batting crease inside the stipulated deadline of two minutes after a batter’s dismissal, had to walk back without having faced a ball.
After having reached the crease, Mathews noticed his helmet’s strap had broken off and hence he called for a replacement which took some time following which Bangladesh appealed for the wicket.
“It’s very disappointing way that Bangladesh played. If it was mankading or obstructing the field, there’s no issue. Within two minutes I was at the crease, and it was when I was at the crease that my helmet broke. The umpires saw this. I still had five seconds left. After I showed my helmet, the umpires said [Bangladesh] had appealed. So I asked where common sense was because my two minutes hadn’t passed,” Mathews said.
“I’ve got no words to explain it. In my 15 years of playing I’ve never seen a team or a player stoop so low,” he added.
Mathews continued to criticise Bangladesh claiming if it had happened against any other team, this wouldn’t have happened.
“Unfortunately (the strap breaking) happened against Bangladesh. I don’t think any other team would do that, because it was black and white. It was an equipment malfunction. It was a safety issue as well. We know that without a helmet I can’t face the bowling,” he said.
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