'Once Shakib forgot his guard vs SL and he was allowed to bring it later': Ashwin on timed out dismissal

Earlier this week, Angelo Mathews became the first ever cricketer to be dismissed timed out in an international match as the veteran Sri Lanka all-rounder was asked to walk off the field without facing a single delivery during the World Cup 2023 match against Bangladesh after captain Shakib Al Hasan had appealed for it. The dismissal created quite a stir in world cricket. Mathews, who labelled Shakib's act as "disgraceful", found support from a number of veteran cricketers who sparked the 'spirit of cricket' debate while few others raised questions on the former Sri Lanka captain.

Mathews had arrived at the crease in the allotted timed as per the ICC rules, but as he was adjusting his helmet before facing the first ball, his chin strap came off. Instead of taking permission from the umpire, he signalled the dugout for a spare helmet. According to the regulations, the batter should be ready to face the opening delivery in two minutes, but amid Mathews' act, Shakib, who was apparently made aware of the rule by his teammate, appealed for a timed-out dismissal and the Sri Lanka batter was given out.

Speaking on his YouTube channel on Friday, Ashwin highlighted the inconsistency of the usage of this variety of dismissal as he revealed that he came across a video on social media where Shakib had forgotten to get his guard in a match against Sri Lanka and he was allowed to bring it with none from the opposition team appealing for timed out. The India all-rounder however admitted that while Mathews was rightfully disappointed, the Bangladesh captain had all the right to appeal for the dismissal.

"One side is talking about the rules and another side is talking about the spirit of cricket. When Mathews came out to bat, his helmet was not okay, and he wanted to change that. I saw another video where Shakib did not bring his guard against Sri Lanka and he was allowed to bring it later. It has almost become warfare between these two countries," Ashwin said.

"Actually with timed-out, yes Shakib appealed and the umpire gave it out, agreed. Recently, there has been information that Mathews was already warned by the umpires about the timed-out dismissal. But Mathews was really upset that he got out, and rightly so. No one should get out like that, everyone will feel bad about that," he added.

Ashwin later revealed that he himself was made aware of the timed-out dismissal by the on-field umpire during the Nagpur Test match against Australia earlier this year when he sauntered into the ground after coming off as a nightwatchman in the opening innings in a bid to kill time.

"I wanted to go slowly so that it would be the last over and be called stumps. But then the umpire told me, 'You came to the crease a bit late. Do you know that if they had appealed I would have given you out.' I was really shocked," he said as he opined that not many teams are still aware of this dismissal.