'He timely remembered he's not a player anymore' - Twitter in splits as Kumar Dharmasena's picture of attempting a catch in SL-AUS ODI surfaces
Dharmasena, in the square leg region, was seen cupping his hands as the ball came his way in the third ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia.
Sri Lanka faced off with Australia in the third ODI on June 19 (Sunday) at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, and the hosts won by six wickets and with nine balls to spare to take a 2-1 lead in the series. But it was umpire Kumar Dharmasena’s act of trying to catch the ball at square leg that is making rounds on social media platforms.
As an Australia batter chipped the ball in the square leg region, Dharmasena cupped his hands making it seem like he was going for a catch. He eventually left it alone and let a Sri Lankan player do the fielding. Various fans on the internet posted pictures showing the umpire standing at square leg with his eyes on the ball and hands cupped.
“Dharmasena looks like he wants to get into the action”
Cricket Australia also posted a picture on Twitter, as they wrote, “Catch! Umpire Kumar Dharmasena looks like he wants to get into the action… Thankfully he didn’t.” A few others, including former Sri Lanka cricketer Russell Arnold, on the incident, wrote “He saw his moment, he took it,” another tweet read. “He timely remembered that he is NOT an SL player anymore,” wrote another.
Australia batted first and set up a strong total of 291, courtesy of the fifties from captain Aaron Finch, who scored 62 runs off 85 balls, and Travis Head, who top-scored with an unbeaten knock of 70 runs off 65 balls. Sri Lankan spinner Jeffrey Vandersay was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with bowling figures of three wickets for 49 runs in ten overs.
Sri Lanka’s chase was architect by opening batter Pathum Nissanka with a splendid hundred, scoring 137 runs off 147 balls. Nissanka’s knock was well complemented by No. 3 batter Kusal Mendis, who scored 87 runs off 85 balls before being retired hurt. The in-form batter Charith Asalanka stayed unbeaten on 13 off 12 balls to do the finishing job, as Sri Lanka chased the target in 48.3 overs with the loss of four wickets.
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