While most athletes around the world play sports to win, there are a handful of them who care more for the sportsmanship associated with it and don't care if displaying it on the field results in a losing cause. New Zealand's Colin Munro is one of those handful of athletes who value being a good sport more than being good at the sport.
Munro, who is the skipper of Desert Vipers in the ongoing edition of the ILT20, displayed sportsmanship of the highest order in a clash against Sharjah Warriors on Sunday (January 28) and won a million hearts of sports fanatics all around the world.
The incident unfolded on the first delivery of the 12th over. Joe Denly of Warriors smashed a flighted delivery from Shadab Khan down the ground and it struck his teammate Martin Guptill who was at the non-striker's end.
Guptill tried to take evasive action but couldn't escape the shot as it hit him on his right hand. Guptill ventured out of the crease while moving out of the direction of the ball but to his misery, the ball ricocheted off his right glove and went to Shadab. The wily leg spinner didn't hesitate even for a second before whipping the bails off the groove, and Guptill was found short of his crease.
However, Guptill's compatriot Munro came to his rescue and withdrew the appeal to give him a new lease of life.
Watch the video of Colin Munro's sportsmanship act:
Though, Guptill, who was batting at 29 off 21 balls at the time of the incident couldn't capitalise on the opportunity and got out to Shaheen Shah Afridi two overs later. Warriors ended up scoring 174 for the loss of seven wicket and won the game by seven runs after their bowlers kept Vipers limited to 167 in their 20 overs.
