Dambulla, Aug. 21: For Kumar Sangakkara, it has been a rough ride of late. If the no-ball incident against India took the sheen away from the tournament, his run-in with Nathan McCullum on Friday threatened to make it worse, but the elegant left-hander was relieved when the ICC ruled him not guilty of the level 2 offence he was charged with (inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players in course of play).
Said ICC match referee Alan Hurst: “I looked at video footage of the incident from various angles and considered the detailed evidence of the umpires. I found the evidence that was put forward by the player provided reasonable doubt as to whether the contact was deliberate.”
Said Sangakkara here on Saturday, “It was disappointing to go to the referee yesterday. When I went into the dressing room, the reaction was that it was difficult to understand how McCullum would get away with it. When we got the call, it was the other way around.
“I am not saying this because the decision went in my favour but Alan Hurst was competent in taking the right decision. If something goes wrong then we will have to take it on our chin and move ahead as men,” he added.
McCullum was not behind the wicket or standing aside when the second run was being attempted. As a batsman, Sangakkara tried to complete the run quickly. “McCullum took offence with that and complained to the umpire. The three Sri Lankan umpires Tyron Wijewardene, Ranmore Martinez and Gamini Dissanayake told the match referee that I was at fault but the match referee thought otherwise,” explained the southpaw.