Sri Lankan opener Gunathilaka was given out for obstruction of the field after West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard's appeal
On wicket, and it leads to a collapse that the team can't recover from and gets bowled out for just 120 more runs. It has happened quite often in cricket, however, the wicket that triggered the collapse became the centre of everyone's attention. Sri Lankan openers, skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Danushka Gunathilaka forged a 105-run partnership for the first wickets before the former got out to an outstanding catch from his West Indies counterpart Kieron Pollard.
A couple of overs later, in the 22nd over of the innings, Gunathilaka too went back to the pavilion, not before getting involved in a rare and bizarre dismissal. The tempers were flared and opinions were divided as the left-hander batting on 55 was given out by the third umpire for obstruction of field.
A shorter delivery from Pollard, Gunathilaka defends it to the ground, he comes forward a few steps, asking his partner not to run as Pollard came charging back in seeing the batsman out of the crease to affect a run-out, only to witness Gunathilaka run backward to save himself from the same not realising the ball was in between his feet.
Pollard, visibly frustrated shouted 'howzat' and the TV umpire deemed that Gunathilaka 'wilfully' obstructed the field and seemed to kick the ball in order to defend himself from the run-out.
The decision created a huge uproar in the cricketing fraternity, many deeming it that it wasn't a great decision from the umpire as there was nothing wilful from the left-hander as he didn't realise where was the ball.
The Marylebone Cricket Club, guardians of the Laws of cricket, said, "The key part of the obstructing the field Law (37.2/37.3) is intent – which can be hard to judge. If the obstruction is wilful, it will be out, but if it's accidental then it will be not out."
Sri Lanka, lost their way after that wicket as they lost their last eight wickets for just 120 runs to get dismissed for 232 runs after a fantastic start when they were sent in to bat by the Windies skipper.
Both Pollard and Gunathilaka were seen patching up after the game and reports suggested that Pollard apologised to the left-hander after he saw the video and realised that it wasn't intentional from him.
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