Tanvir Ahmed, the Bangladeshi umpire, grabbed a lot of limelight for all the wrong reasons on Saturday. He had wrongly adjudged Windies bowler Oshane Thomas’ delivery as a no ball against Bangladesh during the third T20I. Oshane had Liton Das caught at mid-off but Tanvir signalled that it was not a legal delivery as the pacer had overstepped.
However, replays on the giant screen showed that Tanvir gave the wrong decision as Thomas had a significant part of his foot behind the popping crease. A furious Windies skipper Carlos Brathwaite then made his frustration clear as he asked for a review against the decision. With no other option looking viable at that moment, the on-field umpires decided to go upstairs before Tanvir changed his decision.
However, the fourth umpire and match-referee walked out on the ground and held an animated discussion with the two captains, clearly making them aware that the review was against the rule. Consequently, Das’ dismissal was overturned and the ball was declared a no-ball.
Watch: Umpiring Decision Created A Big Controversy
But luckily for Tanvir, the decision did not make much of a difference as Windies crushed Bangladesh by 50 runs to win the deciding game of the series. The reigning world champions scored 190and later on, they bundled out the hosts for a meager score of 140 to take the series 4-1.
Defending his part, Tanvir said that he is new to international cricket and that he simply had a ‘bad day’. As per the quotes in Prothom Alo, Tanvir said, “In terms of a no-ball, there is always the issue of the foot and the line being close to each other. And if the bowler jumps quickly, there are occasions when it is difficult to spot it. I am new to international cricket, I made a mistake.”
He further added, “If you look at my past, I don’t have a bad history. It was one mistake. Inshallah, I will come back well. Every person has good days and bad days. Yesterday I had a bad day. The match just ended yesterday. I am not focusing on anything else. I am thinking about my mistake.”
Tanvir is not new to making controversial decisions. Earlier, he had caused a stir by staging a walkout when he got into an argument with Tamim Iqbal during a Dhaka Premier League game.
