Angelo Mathews, on Monday (November 6), became the first ever batter in the 146-year international cricket history to be adjudged timed out. Since then, a war of words is going on between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Things heated up in the middle as well later even as the players from both teams even refused to shake hands after the match.
Mathews even called Shakib Al Hasan's act 'disgraceful' to appeal for a timed out dismissal. For the unversed, Mathews was adjudged timed out on Monday after not being 'ready to take strike' within two minutes after the dismissal of the batter. While he was getting ready to take strike, the batter found out that his helmet strap was broken and it took some more time for him to get ready with new helmet coming from the dressing room.
During this period, Shakib appealed for a timed out dismissal and the umpires upheld the appeal only for the furious Mathews to walk away. Even the fourth umpire Adrian Holdstock explained the rule and why he was given out. But Mathews is adamant stating that he came out in the middle within two minutes only and contradicted with fourth umpire's views. He also provided the evidence that he was well within the time and ready to take the strike before the helmet strap came off.
"4th 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 tweeted.
Angelo Mathews was on fire on social media after the match as well as he responded to former Sri Lanka cricketer Russel Arnold who reiterated the rule of the need to be ready within two minutes. "Yes was ready before that 2 mins! Can’t face the bowler without the helmet no?"
Interestingly, there was another incident that came to the light when Angelo Mathews was captain. Under his captaincy, Jos Buttler was ran out at the non-striker's end by and then, Mathews hadn't withdrew the appeal. Even for this, the former Sri Lanka skipper explained that Buttler was given multiple warnings before being dismissed. "This was done after two warnings ! And even after the warnings it kept happening and clearly they were taking advantage of it!" Mathews tweet read.
