BAN v IND: Harmanpreet’s on-field outburst came in the heat of the moment, says Smriti Mandhana

Dhaka: Although the ODI series decider between India and Bangladesh ended in a thrilling tie at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, a lot of the attention from the match was centered on Harmanpreet Kaur’s comments over decisions made by on-field umpires and in frustration smashed the stumps with the bat on being adjudged lbw.

In India’s chase of 226, Harmanpreet went for a sweep off Nahida Akter in the 34th over. But Harmanpreet missed the delivery and the ball seemingly went to slip off the pads. On Nahida’s appeal, the umpire raised the finger, leaving Harmanpreet furious.

In anger, she hit the stumps with her bat and exchanged a few angry words with the umpire before walking towards the pavilion. On the way, she showed a thumbs up to the crowd when she reached the boundary ropes.

During the post-match presentation ceremony, an angry Harmanpreet came down heavily on umpiring during the tied match, calling it “pathetic”, while adding that she was “really disappointed” with some decisions.

India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana described Harmanpreet’s on-field frustration over her dismissal as something that happened in the heat of the moment, adding that there was nothing more to it.

“When you play for India you want to win the match, and it happens in the heat of the moment. I think she (Harmanpreet) wasn’t really happy with the decision given and she felt she isn’t out. That is why that (reaction) came about. It is just the heat of the moment and nothing much.”

“What happened in the middle, is a part and parcel of the game. We’ve seen these incidents so much in the past as well. When you really want that W on the board for India, these things happen,” said Smriti in the post-match press conference.

Apart from Harmanpreet, Yastika Bhatia also fell to a controversial lbw decision off Sultana Khatun, but with no DRS for the series, she had to walk back for five and expressed displeasure at the decision by the umpire.

Amanjot Kaur was also left unhappy over an lbw decision she received against Rabeya Khan while Meghna Singh was also left displeased over being given out caught behind off Marufa Akter when the scores were level.

Smriti has also urged for neutral umpires to be placed in future, especially with no decision review system (DRS) available for the just-finished ODI series, citing how the on-field umpires showed urgency in giving Indian batters out.

“In any match, sometimes it happens that you are really not happy with the (on-field decisions). Especially when there is no DRS in a match in a series of this kind, we kind of expect a little better level of umpiring in terms of some decisions.”

“It was very evident that there was not even a second thought given when the ball was hitting the pad when our batters were batting. There was not even one second of thought given before the finger went up. But it’s all part and parcel and we will take everything in our stride.”

“I am sure the ICC, BCB and BCCI will have more of a discussion on that and maybe we can have neutral umpires from maybe next time so that we don’t sit here having these discussions and maybe we can focus more on cricket and cricket-oriented questions.”

Smriti signed off by saying India would have loved to play a Super Over if there was a time in hand. “We would love to play a Super Over and I don’t think there was a question which was asked about Super Over to us. It was all decided. But we would’ve loved to play a Super Over. But the kind of game that happened, I’m sure that it’s good for women’s cricket going forward.”

–IANS