SL incensed after third umpire overturns Soumya Sarkar dismissal
The third umpire ruled that there was a clear gap between bat and ball, even though Ultra-edge showed a clear spike
Mohammad Isam and Andrew Fidel Fernando
06-Mar-2024
Sri Lanka players discuss with the umpire after Soumya Sarkar's controversial not-out decision • Getty Images
Sri Lanka were indignant in the second T20I following the controversial overturning of an on-field decision, by third umpire Masudur Rahman.
Early in the fourth over of Bangladesh's chase, opener Soumya Sarkar had been given out by on-field umpire Sharfuddoula, who ruled that he had edged behind a short delivery from left-arm seamer Binura Fernando. Soumya reviewed that decision immediately, but had begun to walk off the field when the big screen showed a clear spike at around the same time the ball appeared to pass bat.
Umpire Rahman, however, believed the spike to have come from a noise other than bat on ball. He said on air that there was a "clear gap" between bat and ball at the moment the spike showed up on Ultra-edge. There was a slight misalignment - the ball was one frame past the bat when the spike showed up. But in such circumstances, it is common that the batter is given out, and the misalignment put down to differences in the calibration of the technology.
It was also not clear from where else a noise that had produced a pronounced spike could have arisen.
When umpire Rahman conveyed to the on-field umpire that the decision would be overturned, Sri Lanka were bemused. They swarmed around Sharfuddoula questioning the decision. Their coach Chris Silverwood also walked across the sightscreen to talk to the fourth official Tanvir Ahmed.
"The on-field umpire has given it out," Sri Lanka assistant coach Naveed Nawaz later said at his post-match press conference. "I am sure the TV umpire usually needs to have conclusive evidence to overturn the umpire's decision. It was clear that there was a spike. We saw it on the big screen. We might have to take it with the match referee to see what actually happened there. The footage on our screens was not enough to say anything. I am sure the TV umpire would have had evidence to overturn what the on-field umpire had given.
"It would have been the first wicket. It would have given us a headstart by taking the wicket. On a track like this, any wicket is crucial."
Soumya was on 14 at the time. He would eventually fall for 26, in the seventh over.