Bangladesh cricket team is once again in the limelight and the subject is again the 'spirit of cricket'. Bangladesh batter Jaker Ali was seen taking instructions from the dugout for a DRS call and passing it on to his teammate Tanzim Hasan Sakib during the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Group D match against Nepal on Monday. (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
The incident happened during the 14th over of the Bangladesh team's batting at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent. Sandeep Lamichhane's first delivery hit the pads of Sakib and he appealed loudly. The umpire was convinced and he gave that LBW out. Nepal players started celebrating, Sakib also looked convinced and was going back to the pavilion.
But the non-striker Jaker Ali looked at the dressing room and got some instructions. He passed those instructions to Sakib and advised him to take the help of a Decision Review System (DRS). Sakib asked for a review and the replay showed the ball missing the wickets.
Lamichhane, however, bowled him on the next delivery to complete his 100 T20I wickets and became the second-fastest bowler to achieve the feat after Rashid Khan, who completed his 100 wickets in 53 T20I matches. This was Lamichhane's 54th T20 international match.
This was not the first bizarre incident including the Bangladesh cricket team that shocked the cricket fraternity. During last year's cricket World Cup, the time-out controversy including the former Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews also raised questions about the 'spirit of cricket'.
Taking assistance from the dressing room is against the rules and ICC can take action against the players involved. Australian batter Steven Smith was seen taking aid from the dugout during the Bengaluru Test against India in 2017. The Indian captain at that time, Virat Kohli raised the issue to the umpire and was furious about the act.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and the disciplinary committee of the T20 World Cup are yet to take action on both Bangladeshi players involved - Jaker Ali and Tanzim Hasan Sakib. But the netizens on social media have started sharing the clips and mixed reactions are coming from both sides.
Nepal restricted Bangladesh to 106 all out in 19.3 overs. Shakib Al Hasan was the highest scorer with 17 runs off 22 balls. Lamichhane, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami and Rohit Paudel took a brace of wickets each.
In response, Nepal managed to make only 85 runs in 19.2 overs and lost the last group-stage match by 21 runs. Kushal Malla (27 off 40 balls) and DS Airee (25 off 31 balls) were the highlights of Nepal's batting.
