Bangladesh umpire Tanvir Ahmed defends his controversial 'no ball' call

Tanvir Ahmed, the Bangladeshi umpire, made headlines for all the wrong reasons on Saturday. He had wrongly adjudged Windies bowler Oshane Thomas’ delivery as a no ball against Bangladesh during the third T20I. Oshane had Liton Das caught at mid-off but Tanvir signalled that it was not a legal delivery as the pacer had overstepped.

However, replays on the giant screen showed that Tanvir was completely wrong as Thomas had a significant part of his foot behind the popping crease. A furious Windies skipper Carlos Brathwaite then made his frustration clear as he asked for a review against the decision. With no other option looking viable at that moment, the umpires went upstairs before Tanvir changed his decision.

However, the fourth umpire and match-referee walked out on the ground and held an animated discussion with the two captains, clearly making them aware that the review was against the rule. Consequently, Das’ dismissal was overturned and the ball was declared a no-ball.

But fortunately for Tanvir, the decision did not make much of a difference as Windies crushed Bangladesh by 50 runs to win the deciding T20. The reigning world champions scored 190 before bowling out the hosts for 140 to take the series 4-1.

Tanvir defends the call

Tanvir, meanwhile, has defended his horrific call, saying he is new to international cricket and that he simply had a ‘bad day’.

“In terms of a no-ball, there is always the issue of the foot and the line being close to each other,” Tanvir told Prothom Alo. “And if the bowler jumps quickly, there are occasions when it is difficult to spot it. I am new to international cricket, I made a mistake.

“If you look at my past, I don’t have a bad history. It was one mistake. Inshallah, I will come back well. Every person has good days and bad days. Yesterday I had a bad day. The match just ended yesterday. I am not focusing on anything else. I am thinking about my mistake,” he added.

Tanvir is not new to making controversies. Earlier, he had caused a stir by staging a walkout when he got into an argument with Tamim Iqbal during a Dhaka Premier League game.

[interaction id=”5c1e4281e5245c8e68264d58″]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.