GT20 Fiasco: Shakib’s team knocked out after refusing to play super over

Confusion ensued on August 9 (Friday) at the Global T20 League in Canada when the Shakib Al Hasan-led Bangla Tigers Mississauga got knocked out from the Eliminator against Toronto Nationals on the back of a washout. 

According to the rules, it’s the Bangla Tigers who should have progressed to Qualifier 2, thanks to finishing higher on the points table, but it was the Colin Munro-led Toronto who ended up making it through to the next round. 

It’s now come to light that the game was, in fact, not washed out, and Toronto progressed because of the Bangla Tigers’ refusal to play the super over.

It is believed that, after persistent rains, the officials had informed both sides that a super over will be played to decide the winner. The match was then awarded to Toronto after Bangla Tigers captain Shakib refused to turn up to the toss in protest (since a washout would have meant automatic progress for his side).

"At the time of the toss, the Toronto Nationals captain was present, but the Bangla Tigers team refused to appear. The match referee explained the plausible consequences of the said action to the captain [Shakib Al Hasan] and thereafter the umpire subsequently awarded the match to Toronto Nationals,” GLT20 said in a statement.

According to ESPNcricinfo, the tournament organizers had briefed about the super over rule to the teams on WhatsApp. Though GLT20 CEO Joy Bhattacharjya insisted that the rule was always in place, Bangla Tigers owner Zafir Yasin accused the tournament organizers of manipulating rules at the last minute.

"Where's the credibility for a league if rules are changed on the fly?" Yasin said, reported ESPNcricinfo. 

"If we changed rules for one team, Brampton Wolves would've had every reason to argue they were robbed of an opportunity to directly qualify for the final instead of now having to play in the eliminator. The credibility was at stake."

Earlier on the same day, the Qualifier 1 clash between Brampton Wolves and Montreal Tigers got washed out. But a super over was not played for that game; the Tigers progressed thanks to being table toppers.

Bhattacharjya clarified that a super over was not played in Qualifier 1 because of weather conditions, which he asserted significantly improved later in the day, enabling the possibility of a super over for the Eliminator clash.

"It's not like the Super Over provision was brought in for just the game involving Bangla Tigers," he said. 

"It was in place for both games [Qualifier 1 and eliminator]. It's just that it wasn't possible for the first game, and because the second game happened much later in the day, there was a little more time for the ground staff to work on the outfield."

As it turned out, the Toronto Nationals, who would have been knocked out had the Eliminator been a washout, ended up lifting the title after beating the Montreal Tigers by eight wickets. 

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