Wanindu Hasaranga and his team were on the cusp of making history as they were on the verge of defeating the Afgan Giants in the final Twenty20 match of the series played between the two sides and winning the series by a margin of 3-0.
However, in the final match of the series, Afganistan won the contest, but a controversial decision regarding no ball was made by the umpire.
With 19 needed to win off the last over, the Sri Lankan team was in the driver’s seat to chase 210 down as Kamindu Mendis hit two fours in the first three balls to get ahead of the required run rate.
Nevertheless, the game completely turned in the favor of Afganistan when the fourth ball of the over was a high full toss that traveled way over the waist height of Batsman and was given as a legal delivery by Hannibal, who was standing at square leg as the umpire.
Mendis demanded a review as soon as the ball was given as a legal delivery by the umpire but failed to get one as per the latest rules of the ICC, in which a review can be taken by a team in terms of a potential out decision.
After the match got over, Sri Lankan skipper Wanindu Hasranga was very angry with the decision of the umpire. Hasranga said,”That kind of thing shouldn’t happen in an international match. 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.”.
Hasranga further added, “If you can’t see that, that umpire isn’t suited to international cricket. It would be much better if he did another job.”
Afganistan won the match by three runs, and Sri Lanka won the series 2-1.
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