Bangladesh’s Towhid Hridoy, the batman expressed his anger over the poor umpiring standards in their tight four-run loss to South Africa in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match held at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in India.
Hridoy indicated that there was a contentious decision made by the umpire in the 17th over of Bangladesh’s run chase when a ball by Ottneil Baartman hit Mahmudullah on his pad and raced away for four runs. Initially, it was given out LBW by the on-field umpire but overturned the call. Therefore, as it had already been declared out by an umpire, this meant that legally the ball was dead denying some important runs for Bangladesh which could have affected match outcome.
During a press conference after the game, Hridoy spoke of how devastating that choice had been saying “that was not a good call from us since we were very close. The way I saw it, even if it may be determined if I am mistaken but it looks like they gave him out unfairly. If only those four runs were scored differently then maybe things would have changed.”
Hridoy also mentioned that umpires are humans and as such they should be accommodated for their errors especially during low scoring matches where small margins matter most especially crucial moments do set up these individuals’ calls of stumps.
The 23-year-old cricketer further addressed his own dismissal when he got LBW off a delivery from Kagiso Rabada although replays showed that ball was just clipping leg stump. He said given some of these near misses, experienced batters are more often needed to see themselves through during such nail biting situations.
He remarked: “In this kind of venue where low-scoring matches are taking place one or two runs are a big thing. I think those four runs or two wides are close calls and I was given out on umpire’s call, and there is room for improvement.”
