First up, I can totally understand Angelo’s frustrations. It was a gutting way to get out.

Sports authorities try their best to remove ambiguity and subjectivity from sports, using clear rules. If someone is following a rule, in my opinion, he/she is 100% right. No subjectivity should come in. Now, some people may enforce the rule, some people may not. That is their prerogative. But a person, if he/she enforces a rule, is not wrong at all. As everyone knows, ICC is desperately trying to get to finish matches on schedule and they keep bringing in new rules to curb time wastage. Regarding subjectivity … Look at what happened in the 2020 US Open. A player hit a lineswoman with a ball and was immediately defaulted. The velocity of the ball, whether the linesperson was actually hurt, impact point of the ball Etc. does not and should not come into the picture. (That it happened to one of my idols, Novak Djokovic, was another matter 😊).

Here are my points:

1. From the time Mahmudullah took Sadeera’s catch till the time Angelo got handed over the backup helmet (After walking out to the crease, identifying that the helmet was faulty, asking for a replacement helmet and the 12^th man running out with the helmet), it was close to 4 minutes!
2. For around 2+ minutes, Shakib was just standing there, waiting to bowl the next ball. It was not like Shakib had predetermined to get Angelo out this way.
3. Angelo was taking his own cool time, especially AFTER finding out that the strap is broken, he was just standing around (Why not proactively update Shakib (Opposing Captain) and the Umpires on what was happening and tender an apology??).
4. Umpires withheld the decision, because it was 100% as per ICC rules. Matter closed.

I am not the biggest BAN fan around, but all Shakib did was he found an opportunity (within the rules) to take an advantage and he took it. All the “Gentlemen” and “Spirit-of-the-Game Proponents”, the kind who supports players who shamelessly take unfair advantage by backing up too far and thereby having to run lesser distance for a run (because these players are true-blue-blood Gentlemen and loves the Spirit of the Game) and get correctly run-out, will be all over Shakib, but that is expected and Shakib is a big boy. He will handle it.

Thanks to Shakib, every player will now be double and triple-checking their gear! 😊

Another piece of advice: When the openers walk out, all players up to the 4th-down batsman better be ready. The 2023 CWC has shown that wickets falling in a heap is very much possible. And when an opener gets out, 5^th down should get ready and so on.

Adios!