The event happened on the third Test day between South Africa and India, which was held at Newlands, Cape Town, in January 2007. Sachin Tendulkar had to come in to bat at number four after Wasim Jaffer claimed India’s second wicket of the second innings in just the third over.
The first-ever contentious timed-out dismissal of Angelo Mathews in Match 38 of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, has shocked the cricket community. According to the tournament’s rules, the Sri Lankan batsman was declared “timed out” when he did not prepare to face the ball within the allotted two minutes of going in to bat.
The “spirit of the game” has also been called into question in the wake of the unusual episode, which has shocked the whole cricket community. Fans were notably reminded of a similar situation with the dismissal of Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of India, who came dangerously close to becoming the first player in the history of international cricket to be timed out.
But because he had been off the field for a while during India’s first-inning fielding, the laws prevented him from batting, so he had to spend a little more time in the pavilion.
The Indian batting order was abruptly altered as a result, with VVS Laxman scheduled to bat next. But even he was taking a shower, thus the team management was compelled to insert Sourav Ganguly at number four in the batting order.
Ganguly took six minutes to get to the crease.
The southpaw put on his pads fast and strode to the bat, but it took Ganguly more than six minutes to get to the middle and assume his position of responsibility. As he reached the crease, South Africa captain Graeme Smith informed the on-field umpires, Asad Rauf and Daryl Harper, of the cause for the delay. Smith was considerate of the situation and chose not to request a “time out” in order to preserve the “spirit of the game.”
On January 5, 2007, Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly nearly made history by being the first player to be declared ‘timed out’ in international cricket. He took six minutes to reach the batting crease. However, Graeme Smith, the opposing team’s captain, chose not to enforce this… pic.twitter.com/JMhhs5Yaa5
— Anjula Hettige (@AnjulaHettige) November 6, 2023
India was all out for 169 runs as Ganguly went on to score 46 (89). South Africa won the series 2-1 after easily reaching the fourth innings target of 211.
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