Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews becoming the first player ever to be timed out in International cricket has the cricket fraternity in shock. Many fans and former players have deemed it as an act that was against the spirit of the game.
Sri Lanka batter Charith Asalanka mentioned about the incident after Sri Lanka's innings and said that what happened was not good for the spirit of cricket.
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir took to social media and opposed the decision which saw Mathews walking back to the pavilion.
"Absolutely pathetic what happened in Delhi today! #AngeloMathews," Gambhir wrote.
Former Indian cricketer Badrinath also took to social media platform 'X' and wrote "If I was #Shakib I would not have appealed as a Captain and I would have broken more than just a helmet if I was #AngeloMathews #SLvsBan"
"Well, that wasn’t cool" wrote former South African cricketer Dale Steyn
Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja also reacted to the dismissal on social media and said "Angelo made his crease then his helmet strap broke. How is that timed out? I'm all for timed out if he doesn't make his crease but this is ridic. No different then a batsman getting to the crease then taking 3 minutes to face up #cricketworldcup"
The incident happened in the 25th over when the 36-year-old walked out to bat after the dismissal of Sadeera Samarawickrama but found that the helmet strap was broken and immediately signalled for a replacement instead of facing the bowler Shakib Al Hasan.
This prompted Bangladesh to appeal for a 'time out'. Mathews was seen having an animated discussion with umpire Marais Erasmus and Richard Illingworth, explaining that he had some issue with the helmet strap. He also approached Shakib, who didn't withdraw his appeal and the Sri Lankan cricketer was forced to leave the field.