Crowd havoc halts Pak-SL ODI

Things turned ugly at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo where the third ODI of the 5-match ODI series was being played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. An incident took place where a stone hit a Pakistani fielder at the boundary. There was a total chaos as a section of the stands was involved in this small riot.

The visitors were well in command of the third game after setting up Sri Lanka a competitive target of 317. In reply, the bowlers had brought down the home side to 158/7 when the unfortunate incident took place.

According to visuals, a fight broke out among the crowd that turned ugly and they started pelting stones on the outfield. The Pakistani fielders immediately formed a huddle on the pitch as a safety measure and the riot police got into the action to monitor the situation.

The players were then asked to go to the Dressing room until the situation was tackled. The riot police evacuated the particular stand and made sure no further harm was done.

Match referee Javagal Srinath had a chat with the two on-field Umpires and discussed the possibility of resuming the game. After 20 minutes of halt, the game resumed.

Pakistan went on to win the match by 135 runs after a delay of about 20 mins. Now, they lead the series 2-1 with two more one-dayers to go. The incident, hopefully, won’t affect the rest of the tour as Pakistan is still to play a T20 series here.

Showing support towards the Sri Lankan fans, Pakistani captain Misbah-ul-Haq said in the post-match presentation, “The whole crowd cannot be blamed for the wrongdoings of an individual or a group. Our support is with Sri Lanka and their fans.”

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene tweeted about the incident, “We should take results in the correct spirit and enjoy the game. Poor show by some of the spectators. Hopefully it does not reflect on all SL fans.”