Mumbai: In what could be called unprecedented, Bangladeshi player Sujon Mahmud of the Lalmatia club gave away 92 runs in an over (four legal deliveries) to protest against the decisions taken by the on-field umpires in a match played in Dhaka in the second division cricket league on Tuesday. Mahmud’s over consisted of 3 no balls (15 runs), 13 wides that got the opponents 65 runs and he conceded 12 runs from his 4 legal deliveries resulting in an easy 10-wicket win for Axiom. The bowler has now overtaken New Zealand’s Bert Vance, who in his 22-ball spell, conceded 77 runs while playing for Wellington against Canterbury in February 1990.
The most runs conceded in an over in international cricket is 36 – a six off every ball that happened twice in the limited-overs formats and twice in first-class cricket. South African Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes in one over in an ODI against Netherlands and Yuvraj Singh of India thrashed England’s Stuart Broad the same way in the 2007 WorldT20.
Lalmatia, after losing the toss were asked to bat first by the opponent captain. They were dismissed for 88 runs in 14 overs crying foul over some decisions that went against them. “It started at the toss, my captain was not allowed to see the coin and we were sent to bat first and … the umpires’ decisions went against us. My players are young, aged around 17, 18 and 19. They could not tolerate the injustice and reacted by giving away 92 runs in four deliveries,” said the Lalmatia general secretary Adnan Rehman Dipon to Dhaka Tribune.
This is not the first time that umpires have faced the flak for poor decisions in the league. Tasnim Hasan of the Fear Fighting Sporting Club protested in a similar fashion by giving 69 runs in 7 deliveries. Well, it is time the officials looked into the matter because at the end of the day, it is the game of cricket that is turning out to be a joke courtesy such unpardonable acts. Any takers?
(With inputs from Wisden India and The Times of India)