Waqar Younis under legal fire for criticizing Shakib’s expired appeal

A high court in Bangladesh has ruled against former Pakistan cricketer Waqar Younis.

This decision came in response to Waqar’s critical comments about Bangladesh cricket and their team captain Shakib Al Hasan during their recent World Cup match against Sri Lanka.

In that match, Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathews was controversially given a time-out dismissal, marking the first such dismissal in the 146-year history of international cricket.

During the match, Shakib decided to appeal against Mathews’ “time out” dismissal. While the ICC regulations include a provision for “time out” dismissals, it had not been implemented in international cricket prior to this incident. Matthews requested a new helmet and the process took more than two minutes to complete. Shakib, realizing the delay, informed the umpire, resulting in Mathews being called out.

Both Waqar and former Sri Lankan cricketer Russel Arnold criticized Shakib’s actions in the commentary box, calling the call “unsportsmanlike”. Younis specifically directed his criticism at Shakib, questioning his actions and disapproving of Bangladesh’s approach, saying it was against the spirit of cricket.

“I didn’t like what I saw out there. This was not good for the spirit of cricket. I am old school and I think it was too much drama to get Angelo Mathews out,” Waqar said during the telecast.

The ruling against Waqar directed the Bangladesh cricket board to explain why it should not lodge a complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) to remove Waqar from the list of international commentators in the ongoing 2023 ICC World Cup.

Furthermore, the court gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and its chairman 10 days to respond to this decision. The judgment was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah after the initial hearing of a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Waliur Rahman Khan.