With Angelo Mathews' timed out dismissal in the 2023 World Cup game against Bangladesh in Delhi provoking outrage among social media. However, it's worth remembering that ex-Indian captain Sourav Ganguly could have become the first player in international cricket during a Test match against South Africa in 2007.
The Test match hosted by Cape Town in 2007 saw Ganguly arrive at the crease six minutes late after Team India lost both their openers as he was in the shower. On-field umpire Daryl Hair explained the entire scenario to him and Graeme Smith was within his rights to appeal, but the left-handed opening batter did not do it.
Instead, Smith chose to overlook the 'timed out' rule and let his counterpart bat. Ganguly had played well in both innings of that Test, top-scoring for the visiting side with 66 and 47, but the Proteas lost the match by 5 wickets. India had also led the three-match series by 1-0, but the hosts beat them in the next two to take the rubber.
Angelo Mathews slams Shakib al Hasan's 'disgraceful' act:
Meanwhile, speaking at a post-match press conference, Mathews said that he wasn't wrong in any way and felt both Bangladesh and the on-field umpires hadn't got the call correcly.
"I haven't done anything wrong. I had two minutes to get ready which I did but there was an equipment malfunction and I don't know where commonsense (had) gone. It was disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh. If they want to play cricket like that, stoop to that level, it is something wrong drastically. If I got late, past my two minutes and the law says I have to get ready in two minutes, I still had five more seconds to go."
Bangladesh eventually knocked Sri Lanka out by chasing down 279 with 3 wickets to spare.
