England captain Jos Buttler subjected himself to a bewildering decision during the first of a three-match T20I series against New Zealand in Chester-le-Street yesterday.
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Buttler, who was right behind the stumps at the time of a personal ignominy, was sitting in the dressing room when Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal had committed the same mistake in the second of a three-match ODI series in Mirpur nearly eight months ago.
A commonality between Buttler and Iqbal opting to unsuccessfully challenge the on-field umpires’ decisions was reaction from fans, who didn’t care twice before putting both the reviews in the list of “worst reviews in cricket”.
Jos Buttler Commits Grave DRS Error Against Glenn Phillips
It all happened on the third delivery of the 16th over when New Zealand batter Glenn Phillips confidently defended a yorker from England all-rounder Liam Livingstone.
Instantly appealing for a potential lbw dismissal, Buttler didn’t really thought of seeking the bowler’s suggestion before casting aspersion over umpire Mike Burns’ decision. In the general run of things, Buttler would’ve refrained from doing so especially after taking into consideration Livingstone’s sheepish grin.
As expected, Phillips continued batting after replays confirmed how he had played the ball right from the middle of his bat with his pads nowhere near the contact point.
Having reduced the visitors to 98/6 whilst conceding 6 runs per over at the time, a dominating start to the series could’ve motivated Buttler to hope for an unlikely twist of fate.
Tamim Iqbal Had Opted For A Bizarre Review Against Adil Rashid
Much like Buttler, even Iqbal had anticipated for the same in a situation where he had two reviews left to be taken during the last 13 balls of the innings. Taking a punt on his luck in adversity, Iqbal had also ended up embarrassing himself earlier this year.
With England having just crossed the 300-run mark on the previous delivery, Iqbal had challenged the umpire’s decision only to immediately entice a nod of Adil Rashid‘s head. Facing Taskin Ahmed after hitting a first-ball boundary, Rashid had also defended a yorker from the face of the bat.
In Iqbal’s defence, all one can deduce with respect to him making a schoolboy mistake is a desperate hope of dismissing the eighth English batter and hand the right-arm bowler a fourth wicket at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.
