When Ganguly did not take time out even after arriving 6 minutes late, this captain had set an example of sportsmanship

Angelo Mathews' time out in the match played between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2023 has become a topic of discussion. This is the first time in the history of international cricket that a batsman took more than two minutes to take a strike and was timed out. Regarding this, questions are also being raised on the sportsmanship of Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan. But, do you know that once it took 6 minutes for Sourav Ganguly to reach the crease? Despite this, the umpire did not give him time out.

Actually, in 2007, Team India was on a tour of South Africa. The third Test was being played between the two teams in Cape Town. In this match, the wickets of Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag fell early in India's second innings. After this, the next batsman was Sachin Tendulkar, who walked off the field while fielding on the third day. Because of this, Sachin could not bat before 10.48 am. After Sachin, Bharte's next batsman was VVS Laxman, who was taking a shower. In such a situation, Sourav Ganguly was late in reaching the crease.

When Sourav Ganguly came to know that VVS Laxman was also not ready, he hurriedly reached the dressing room and immediately got ready and came to the crease. Ganguly was late by more than 3 minutes during this period and it took him more than 6 minutes to take the strike. Now the question is that when the strike has to be taken within two minutes then why did the umpire not give time out to Ganguly?

In that match against India, the captaincy of South Africa was in the hands of Graeme Smith. Graeme Smith also knew that Ganguly had reached the field late. But, he showed sportsmanship and did not appeal for time out from the umpire. For this reason, the umpire did not give Ganguly out. If Graeme Smith had not shown sportsmanship during that time, Sourav Ganguly would have been the first player to be timed out in international cricket.