Thursday, 6 February 2014 00:00
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ESPNCricinfo: As if Kumar Sangakkara ruthlessly punishing the bowlers was not enough, Bangladesh were hit with five penalty runs after a lackadaisical bit of fielding on the second day of the Chittagong Test.
Shakib Al Hasan tried everything to disrupt Sangakkara’s concentration, but it went horribly wrong when he bowled a wide way down the leg side in the 146th over. Shamsur Rahman, Bangladesh’s makeshift wicketkeeper, didn’t even attempt to stop the ball and as it rolled towards the fine-leg fielder Tamim Iqbal.
With only the No. 11 for company, Sangakkara was looking to farm the strike and had declined the easy single on offer. With no urgency to get the ball back, Tamim sauntered after it, and lobbed in a casual throw towards the stumps. To his dismay, the ball hit the helmet placed behind the keeper and immediately the two umpires converged to discuss the issue. They then awarded five penalty runs in accordance with Law 41.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka had seen the ball beat Ajantha Mendis’ bat and hit the offstump only for the bails to stay firmly in place. The penalty runs were another slice of misfortune for them on a day when almost everything went wrong, as Sri Lanka powered their way towards 600.
