DHAKA: West Indies Twenty20 skipper Carlos Brathwaite blasted the match umpires for giving “50-50 decisions” to Bangladesh even though his side won the third Twenty20 international to wrap up the series.
West Indies, who won Saturday’s match by 50 runs, were victims of an erroneous no-ball call that could not be overturned by review and Braithwaite was critical of the umpiring throughout the tour though he insisted he was not alleging “cheating”.
In the fourth over of the Bangladesh innings, Bangladesh umpire Tanvir Ahmed called a no-ball against West Indies paceman Oshane Thomas when batsman Liton Das spooned a catch to Shimron Hetmyer at mid-off.
A television replay showed the delivery had been legal, and Brathwaite and his teammates were furious after seeing the big screen images in the Dhaka stadium.
Brathwaite asked for a review and ran to the boundary for talks with match referee Jeff Crowe, halting the game for around 10 minutes.
The match officials had to uphold the decision despite a clear mistake as the rules do not allow a review against an on-field no-ball call.
West Indies, who made 190, were charged up after the incident and bowled out Bangladesh for 140 in 17 overs with medium-pacer Keemo Paul picking up 5-15.
“The rule is that if a no-ball is called it cannot be reviewed or reversed. But if it isn’t called, it can be reversed checking the video.
“Everyone saw that it was not a no-ball,” Brathwaite said after the game.
Brathwaite went to the match referee after Thursday’s 36-run defeat in the second match as he felt close decisions throughout the series went against his side.
“I didn’t think the 50/50 decisions were going in our favour. Those decisions went for Bangladesh,” he said.
“I never ever want to accuse someone of cheating. I will stop short of that. They are professionals as well.
“I didn’t accuse them of cheating but I made my point clear to the match referee that every 50-50 decision in the ODI series and T20 series up to that point went against us.”
In the second match, the same Bangladeshi umpire called Brathwaite for a wide when Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan clearly edged the ball and wicketkeeper Shai Hope took a catch.
Shakib, who was then on 20, went on to score 42 off 26 balls, guiding Bangladesh to 211-5 before his 5-21 completed a series-levelling win.
In the decisive third and final one-day international, the umpires ruled West Indies captain Rovman Powell out when it should have been a no-ball as Bangladesh illegally had six fielders on the leg side.
Brathwaite, who did not play the game, went on the field with drinks after the Powell dismissal and became involved in an argument with the umpires.
Bangladesh won the preceding Test and ODI series 2-0 and 2-1 respectively.
