Rangpur Riders clinched victory from the jaws of defeat against Fortune Barishal in Sylhet on Thursday after Nurul Hasan struck 30 runs in Kyle Mayers’ last over with his team needing 26 for victory in a dramatic run chase. However, the Bangladeshi maverick should never have been at the crease in the first place given what had conspired in the previous over, in what is bound to go down as one of the greatest umpiring blunders in T20 history.
A mini-collapse late in the game saw two new batters Mahedi Hasan and Nurul out in the middle in the 19th over, with the former holding strike on the fourth delivery. Jahandad Khan steamed in with his left-arm pace and cleverly dug a slower ball into the pitch that seemed to catch his counterpart off-guard. Nevertheless, Mahedi managed to poke the Kookaburra back down the pitch and sprinted across hoping for a quick single even as Jahandad charged after the ball to try and effect a run-out. Nurul, who had started well wide of the pitch at the non-striker’s end, quickly realized he was in danger and tried to mitigate the circumstance with a quick stutter to change directions towards the white rock, thereby denying Jahandad the opportunity to collect the ball. Unsurprisingly, Barishal immediately went up in appeal and replays showed Nurul was not particularly subtle with his movements, making it an easy decision for the umpire to rule the incident as obstructing the field.
However, much to the players’ shock, Nurul stood his ground while a flummoxed Mahedi began making his way back to the dugout and no umpire intervention arrived to bring about justice. As it turned out, Nurul ended up producing one of the greatest finishes in the shortest format of the game, allowing his team to steal an improbable victory. Tensions unsurprisingly ran high after and saw Tamim Iqbal involved in an ugly confrontation with the opposing camp, with Alex Hales at the forefront, albeit the former Bangladesh skipper presented a calm figure at the post-match presentation.
“He was asking if I was embarrassed for getting banned for drugs for England and he was asking if I was still taking drugs and he was very, very rude,” Hales later revealed.
