Play was stopped for at least eight minutes during the series-deciding third T20I in Mirpur after West Indies captain Carlos Brathwaite contested a dubious on-field call by umpire Tanvir Ahmed.
The incident occurred in the fourth over of Bangladesh’s chase when Ahmed called wrongly a no-ball off Oshane Thomas, when replays confirmed there was some part of his foot behind the line as he delivered. Liton Das, upon hearing it, looked to clear the infield but was caught at mid-off.
West Indies asked to review the decision, only to be told by match referee Jeff Crowe that they couldn’t opt for it, as it was confirmed the delivery wasn’t a no-ball only after seeing replays on the giant screen.
The incident came up minutes after Tanvir had called another no-ball off Thomas erroneously, off the fifth delivery. The free-hits of both no-balls were clattered for six.
After word came from the West Indies dressing room that the sixth ball was also an umpiring error, the fielders protested with umpires Tanvir and Masudur Rahman.
Then they gathered around the pitch before Brathwaite ran towards their dressing room and held long discussions with the fourth umpire Sharfuddowla Ibne Saikat and later the match referee Crowe.
West Indies’ assistant coach Mushtaq Ahmed was in the discussion too, as was Shakib Al Hasan, the next batsman. Brathwaite finally returned to the field, held another huddle with the rest of the West Indies players before letting play continue.
This isn’t the first instance of umpiring error in the last eight days. In the previous T20I in Mirpur, both umpire Tanvir and Gazi Sohel had given an lbw decision each, though both were off massive inside edges. West Indies managed to overturn the on-field call successfully both times by opting for reviews.
In the third ODI, Brathwaite, the 12th man, had strongly pointed to the umpires that they hadn’t noticed the six fielders on the on-side when Bangladesh was fielding. Rovman Powell had in fact got out when that field was employed, although the West Indians didn’t protest his dismissal. Powell later called the errors “disappointing”.