Sri Lanka’s Lakshan Sandakan had a ‘brain-fade moment’ during the second T20I against Australia in Brisbane on Wednesday. The chinaman bowler failed to run out Steve Smith despite the batsman being outside of his crease.
The incident occurred in the 13th over of the Australian innings. David Warner was the batsman on strike, who played the second delivery of the over straight back to the bowler who went on to hit the stumps.
Meanwhile, Smith ran to complete a single, but Warner denied it. Sandakan quickly collected the ball, but instead of dislodging the stumps with the ball in his hand, he uprooted it with one hand and the ball in the other and appealed for a run-out.
As per the rules, if the bails are already dislodged, the fielding side has to uproot the stumps with the ball in hand. Sandakan committed a “schoolboy error” in this case and missed an easy chance to run Smith out. Even the batsman was also left laughing after the incident along with the bowler.
The on-field umpires, though, were not sure and took the case to the third umpire who eventually declared Smith not-out.
Here’s the video:
Sandakan had a golden opportunity to run out Smith! #AUSvSL pic.twitter.com/E7AsOwEjSJ
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 30, 2019
Warner and Smith both smashed half-centuries as Australia thumped Sri Lanka by nine wickets to clinch the three-match series.
Chasing a paltry target of 118 after the Islanders were restricted to 117, Warner and Smith batted together after skipper Aaron Finch departed for a golden duck. Warner was unbeaten on 60, and Smith not out 53 as Australia romped home with seven overs to spare.
