Former South African skipper AB de Villiers wasn’t too pleased with the Bangladesh skipper’s decision to call back New Zealand batter Ish Sodhi after dismissing him at the Non-striker’s end. For a very long time, the practice of running out hitters at the non-striker’s end has been a point of concern in international cricket over the last few years.
Hasan Mahmud of Bangladesh and Ish Sodhi of New Zealand received a lot of attention during the second One-Day International of the three-match series because Mahmud attempted a similar run-out on the Kiwi batter. When Mahmud noticed Sodhi had left the crease during the 46th over, he removed the bails before bowling the ball with the Kiwi batter being declared out by the third umpire.
Bangladesh skipper Litton Das called the New Zealand batter to continue which once again sparked a controversy in the cricketing world, Speaking on the incident AB de Villiers is not happy with an incident of calling the batter to play after getting him out in the game and urged the ICC to bring a new rule not to call a batter back after being declared out in the match.
“Something that is irritating me at the moment is the rule of the run out when the batter is leaving the crease. Ish Sodhi was called back by the captain and I think, this is a little all over the place. I looked at the footage. If I get bowled, the captain can’t feel sorry for me and call me back. Right? So, why would this rule allow the batters to be called back?”
“Where I am going with this is, I want the ICC to bring it into the rule that you can’t call batters back. Make it a fair dismissal. There are too many grey areas. When you leave grey areas, it can be really sore on the eyes for the fans, and I find it really irritating and hurtful towards the game,” AB de Villiers said.
Ish Sodhi ironically cheered Mahmud’s actions as he made his way back, but Bangladesh captain Litton Das stepped in and eventually permitted Sodhi to continue playing in the game. Even, former Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal expressed his displeasure in calling him back to play, as the dismissal is within the rules of the game.
I Don’t See This As Sportsmanship, It’s A Fair Dismissal – AB de Villiers
Ab de Villiers feels that the dismissal at the non-striker’s end should be considered as any other wicket in the game and asserted that it comes under the rules of the ICC and believes that there is no sportsmanship in calling the batter to play after taking his wicket in the game.
“My advice would be, take the rule away that you can’t call a batter back. If a bowler wants to run the batter out, take the dismissal off the rule book. If you are caught on the boundary, you are out. These are the rules of the game. You can’t say, ”ah, he is my friend, call him back’. I don’t see this as sportsmanship, I’m sorry. It’s a fair dismissal, it’s out. Walk off the field,” AB de Villiers added.
The last One-day international in Dhaka on Tuesday saw New Zealand defeat Bangladesh by seven wickets to win the series 2-0 and the Bangladesh side will look to turn their fortunes ahead in the ODI World Cup in India, as they have a good side to pull off some upsets in the game.
