Suspension threat for Rashid

Published September 7, 2003

MULTAN, Sept 6: Pakistan captain Rashid Latif faces an anxious wait after attending a hearing, called by ICC match referee Mike Procter, on Saturday evening on an official complaint lodged by Bangladesh team.

Rashid, who attended the meeting accompanied by Pakistan manager Haroon Rasheed, will know his fate after Procter, the former South African all-rounder, announces his verdict at press conference on Sunday afternoon. The nature of offence will only then become known.

Bangladesh have accused wicket-keeper Rashid of acting in an unsporting fashion and bringing the game into disrepute by not calling back Alok Kapali after the ball seemed to have popped out of his gloves during the visitors’ second innings on Friday morning.

The UAE-based channel covering the current series, repeatedly showed the incident when it happened.

But the fact of the matter is that Rashid had dropped the ball after rolling over twice after spectacularly taking the catch off debutant paceman Yasir Ali

Asoka e Silva, the umpire standing the bowler’s end, had promptly raised his finger once he saw the ball going into Rashid’s gloves without waiting for the full course of action to complete.

And if there was any doubt in de Silva’s mind, he should have consulted his partner Russell Tiffin for confirmation whether the catch was taken cleanly or not. And further, if even Tiffin was unsure, he should have asked Aleem Dar, the TV umpire, to clear the matter by watching the incident on the monitor.

Despite the added facility of modern technology, the international umpires are reluctant to refer such decisions to the third umpire.

Had both de Silva and Tiffin used a bit of commonsense, this unnecessary fuss would have never cropped up at all.

Finally, had Bangladesh won the third and final Test, would they raise the issue? It is invariably difficult to digest such a shattering defeat after being so close to maiden Test victory.

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