When Graeme Smith's Act of Sportsmanship Saved Sourav Ganguly from Being 'Timed Out'

Angelo Mathews has become part of cricket folklore after being ‘timed out’ during a world cup match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Delhi. He’s the first cricketer to be dismissed in such manner at the international level.

However, 16 years back, another batter came dangerously close to being the first ever batter to be timed out in international cricket but thanks to the opponent captain’s generosity, he avoided the unwanted record.

The batter in question is legendary India captain Sourav Ganguly who was, wait for it, six minutes late to the batting crease after the dismissal of both openers inside the first three overs during the Cape Town Test of 2007 between India and South Africa.

The tremor

After taking a 41-run lead, India were hoping to set South Africa a challenging target when they saw Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag falling to the new ball bowling pair of Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn.

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Rahul Dravid had already walked out to the middle at no. 3 in the first over and now awaited Sachin Tendulkar to join him. India were jolted early in their innings with the scorecard reading 6/2 in 2.2 overs.

Tendulkar Not Allowed

Tendulkar, who batted at no. 4, wasn’t allowed to walk in at his customary position since he had spent some time off the field and had to wait five minutes more before he could be allowed. Jaffer was dismissed at 10:43 am and Tendulkar was told he cannot bat before 10:48 am.

Laxman in the Shower, Suit up Ganguly 

The next batter was VVS Laxman. Incidentally, he was in the shower and that meant Sourav Ganguly had to suit up in quick time to be ready to take guard at No. 4.

Plenty of time had passed and by the time Ganguly had arrived, it was six minutes since Jaffer’s wicket.

South Africa captain Smith was told about what had transpired and he was gracious enough to not appeal for ‘timed out’.

Ganguly would go on to make 46 off 89 as South Africa defeated India by five wickets.

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