After both batters ended up at the same end in the 41st over of the Bangladesh innings, Mehidy Hasan Miraz left his crease to allow Najmul Hossain Shanto to make his ground before him. Here’s why.
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Batting first in their opening game of the 2023 Asia Cup, Bangladesh seemed to be going nowhere as none of their batters except Shanto could come to terms with the slowness of the Pallekele surface. At the end of 36 overs, their score read 140-5, with Shanto on 75 off 109 balls and Mehidy on five off nine.
The last thing Bangladesh needed at that point was a run out. However, not only did they enforce a run out on themselves, but they did so in the most embarrassing manner, with both batters running towards the same end.
Mehidy tucked a length ball from Kasun Rajitha onto the leg side and took a step forward. That seemed to be enough of an indication for Shanto, who was at the non-striker’s end, as he took off for a run. Mehidy, however, backed out of it, resulting in both batters running towards the same end.
With the pitch being difficult to score off, it was imperative for Bangladesh that their set batter stayed in the middle for as long as possible. After Shanto, the next highest scorer in the top six for Bangladesh was Towhid Hridoy, who had taken 41 balls to score 20, and had not managed to find the fence once. Shanto, batting on 75, held the key to Bangladesh’s chances in the game. Fortunately for them, Mehidy realised this in the nick of time.
[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]
Dhananjaya de Silva fielded and threw the ball calmly to Rajitha at the non-striker’s who had come back from his follow-through to collect the throw. By the time he took off the bails, Mehidy had willingly wandered out of his crease, allowing Shanto to cross him and jog safely through the crease.
According to law 38.4 of the Laws of Cricket which deals with which batter is out during a run out, “The one whose ground is at the end where the wicket is broke” is the batter who is supposed to be dismissed.
In this instance, when the wicket at the non-striker’s end was broken, Shanto was the only batter inside the crease at the striker’s end, making the striker’s end his ‘ground’, which, in turn, made the non-striker’s end Mehidy’s ‘ground’. Consequently, after a brief check with the third umpire, Mehidy was given out.
While Mehidy’s intentions behind his sacrifice made sense, unfortunately for Bangladesh, Shanto could only add 14 more runs to his tally before being dismissed by a Maheesh Theekshana beauty.
Bangladesh could only manage to reach 164, and despite a late fightback from their bowlers towards the end of Sri Lanka’s chase, they weren’t able to defend it and succumbed to a five-wicket defeat.
