Umpire Dar's head-nod confuses Bangladesh

The last ball of the fourth day's play at P Sara Oval was eventful. Bangladesh appealed confidently for a bat-pad catch against the no. 10 Suranga Lakmal, hoping to end the day with their ninth Sri Lankan scalp. Umpire Aleem Dar nodded more than once, and even brought out his hand to his side, but eventually gave it not out.

Mosaddek Hossain, the bowler off whom Sabbir Rahman had caught Lakmal at short leg, said after play that Bangladesh reviewed the decision because they had interpreted Dar's reaction to mean the batsman had edged the ball, despite the umpire refusing the appeal and following up with gestures that indicated not out.

"The review that was taken in the last ball, we became more certain after seeing the umpire that it was out," Mosaddek said. "We were confident so we took the review. He [Dar] nodded his head affirmatively first and then we thought it was out, and at the time we thought that there is a chance to get the decision if we took the review."

In the absence of HotSpot, Ultra Edge or the Snickometer for this series, however, all the TV umpire had to go on were slow-motion replays, which did not indicate an edge. As a result, Dar's on-field decision of not out stayed.

Lakmal had appeared to walk during the appeal, but Sri Lankan batsman Dimuth Karunaratne clarified after play that Lakmal had walked because he thought it was stumps and not because he edged it.

"What happened was that since it was the last ball Suranga [Lakmal] came towards the dressing room as it was the last ball. He didn't nick it. He was coming back to the dressing room as it was stumps."

ESPNcricinfo learned that Bangladesh were not going to press the issue because ultimately they also felt that there had been no edge.