When Sourav Ganguly almost became first to be 'timed out' in international cricket

NEW DELHI: The bizarre 'timed out' dismissal finally made its debut in international cricket on Monday when Angelo Mathews was given out for not turning up at the crease within the stipulated time during the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka ODI World Cup match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.



The former Lankan captain took over two minutes to assume the batting position due to helmet issues. During this delay, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan made an appeal, which was upheld by the on-field umpire. The MCC law states that the batter should be ready to receive the next ball within 3 minutes of the dismissal. But according to ICC World Cup 2023 playing conditions, the time limit for the batter is just two minutes.

The incident brought back the memories dating back to 16 long years when former India captain Sourav Ganguly survived a timed-out dismissal as he had to rush onto the pitch after the fall of a wicket during a South Africa Test at Cape Town in 2007.

In that instance where India had lost a wicket and the next batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, was not permitted to take the field due to the time he had spent off the pitch, and VVS Laxman was taking a shower, the responsibility to come out to bat came on Ganguly, who was still in his tracksuit.



In this particular scenario, although Ganguly had exceeded the time limit by three minutes, the then Proteas skipper Graeme Smith chose not to appeal and patiently waited for Ganguly to come out to bat.

While the Mathews incident is a first in international cricket, there have been six instances of batters being timed out in first-class cricket.