Sri Lanka skipper Wanindu Hasaranga minced no words as he targeted the umpire after the no-ball controversy in SL vs AFG 3rd T20I. Umpire Lyndon Hannibal, standing at square-leg when the incident occurred, decided against giving a no-ball despite the ball being above the waist height of batter Kamindu Mendis.
SL vs AFG: Hasaranga minces no words for umpire Hannibal
“That kind of thing shouldn’t happen in an international match,” Hasaranga says. “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.”
Sri Lanka were at a perilous position, needing 11 runs off three deliveries when the incident took place. A full toss from Wafadar Momand took Mendis by surprise. However, despite appealing for a no-ball, the umpires decided to turn it down. Hasaranga opines that if the umpire could check front foot no balls, then this could have been checked 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.”
Chasing 210, Sri Lanka fell short by 3 runs. Needing 19 off the final over, Mendis hit two fours in first three balls to keep the hosts in the hunt.
The fourth delivery which seemed to have been bowled full toss over the waist was not signalled a no-ball by Hannibal. Mendis managed to hit only a six in the next three deliveries as Sri Lanka ended up as losing side.
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