With Sri Lanka requiring 11 runs on the final three deliveries, Wafadar Momand bowled a high full-toss to Kamindu Mendis, which he attempted to land in the blockhole as a yorker.
A controversial moment unfolded during the final few tense moments in the third T20I between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in Dambulla last night. With Sri Lanka requiring 11 runs on the final three deliveries, Wafadar Momand bowled a high full-toss to Kamindu Mendis, which he attempted to land in the blockhole as a yorker.
The ball was clearly above the waist height, going across the batter. The batter swung it hard and missed, but he immediately looked at the square-leg umpire, Lyndon Hannibal, who didn’t give any reaction, deeming it a fair delivery.
Mendis asked for it again and gestured to take a review, but international cricket doesn’t allow challenging umpire decisions for non-wicket deliveries. The replays confirmed the ball going way above the required height, and Afghanistan were lucky to get away with it.
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Despite being frustrated by the decision, Kamindu had no option but to continue. Sri Lanka later lost the game by three runs, but had the umpire given the right decision, the outcome of the match could have been different and in Sri Lanka’s favour.
Sri Lankan skipper Wanindu Hasaranga expressed his disappointment with the decision, using strong words following the game. Hasaranga stated that the umpire should switch to another job if he fails to judge such a simple no-ball.
“That kind of thing shouldn’t happen in an international match. If it had been close [to waist height], that’s not a problem. But a ball that’s going so high – it would have hit the batsman’s head if it had gone a little higher. If you can’t see that, that umpire isn’t suited to international cricket. It would be much better if he did another job.”
Hasaranga added that their batsmen tried to review, but ICC doesn’t allow it. According to him, the third umpire should check above-waist height no-balls as well.
“There was a situation where you could review those calls before, but the ICC has got rid of that,” Hasaranga said. “Our batsmen tried to review that. If the third umpire is able to check the front-foot no-ball, he should check this kind of no-ball as well. There’s no reason why they can’t. They didn’t do even that, so I’m not sure what was going on in his (the square-leg umpire’s) mind at the time.”
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