Ban vs Pak, 3rd ODI – Pakistan lodge official complaint about Bangladesh’s review at end of chase

The decision to undergo review and its ultimate outcome helped Bangladesh gain an unassailable position in the game. Prior to that delivery, Pakistan needed 12 to win two balls. Rishad Hossain flew one over the leg-stump which spun to the far leg side from Shaheen Afridi. The referee called it wide because it went down the leg. After a brief discussion, Bangladesh decided to take a review for lbw even though, to the naked eye, the ball was not close to Afridi’s legs or any part of his body.

Typical protocols require that decisions about review be made before playback is visible to players to prevent players from influencing review decisions. However, Pakistan assumed that there was no case for review because the delivery was initially given wide, and claimed that normal protocols had not been followed, including showing the ball passing the bat on the stadium’s big screen and providing sufficient information to suggest it may have potentially made contact with Bangladesh. Pakistan is also understood to be aggrieved by the prospect of Bangladesh being allowed to review beyond the maximum 15 seconds that such a decision has to be taken. There was no timer on the broadcast, so it was not possible to independently check whether Bangladesh reviewed on time.

However, the reason for Afridi’s palpable frustration became clear as soon as DRS went Hawk-Eye, with a spike the moment the ball passed the bottom of his bat, implying that the ball could not kiss the tip of his toe and go wide. Bangladesh lost the retrial, but the decision was overturned by a wide margin, making them 12 a ball. Afridi panicked at the final delivery and swung his bat over the stumps in frustration. Bangladesh won by 11 points and won the series 2-1.

It is not yet clear what action the PCB wants from the match referee, but it is believed they would at least expect a public acknowledgment that an error was made.