McCullum obstructed my way: Sangakkara

Sat, Aug 21 10 05:57 PM

T V Sriram Dambulla (Sri Lanka), Aug 21 (PTI) Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara today defended his move during the unsavoury collision incident involving New Zealand''s Nathan McCullum in Friday''s tri-series match, saying it was the all-rounder who first obstructed his way. "When I was finising the first run, the bowler has to be behind the wicket or aside, especially a spinner. When I ran for the first run, I knew there was two runs. That''s my duty. On my last two steps, for some reason, McCullum came out of the crease and was obstructing my way," Sangakkara said. "I don''t know whether it was done purposefully, I didn''t have anything to do. When on crease, there was some contact. When that happened, my head also had turned the other way. He took offence with that and complained to the umpire. "On that incident, the three Sri Lankan umpires - Tyron Wijewardene, Ranmore Martinez and Gamini Dissanayake - told the Match Referee that I was at wrong. Not McCullum. But the Match Referee saw all visuals and decided that I was not at fault," Sangakkara told reporters at the pre-match press conference. The ICC earlier gave a clean chit to Sangakkara, saying the Sri Lanka captain was found not guilty of breaching its Code of Conduct. "Depends on how the charge sheet was made. In a situation like that, it should be either both players or the video footage should be looked at. The bowler moves in the line of a batsman and the batsman has no way to avoid contact, if he does, he can be run out," the Sri Lankan skipper. "Sometime, bowlers may tend to do it to deny the batsmen being comfortable and going for the second. That''s bit of speculation. The Match Refere after viewing the footage, didn''t find anything wrong," he said. "The way it happened, I had no way of avoiding collision. I tried my best to make sure that the bat was away. I would have done an injury had I gone straight into him. I managed to avoid that, even at the lat moment, he was moving to my way. Match Referee saw what happened," he added. On tomorrow''s must-win match against India, Sangakkara said the home team would eye an early removal of swashbuckling India opener Virender Sehwag. "Viru''s wicket is very importnat. We view each wicket as important. That''s the easiest way to take wickets. But Viru is adjusting to the challenges sides are putting to him, lets set him some more challenges and see how he comes through," he said. More PTI TVS DB MRM

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