Warner rues run out in BPL debut

David Warner and Steve Smith's first match in the Bangladesh Premier League has begun in contentious fashion, with the former Test vice-captain left shaking his head following a calamitous run out.

Some clever scheduling by tournament organisers saw the Warner-captained Sylhet Sixers take on the Smith-skippered Comilla Victorians in the two sides' opening match of the BPL in Dhaka on Sunday.

After Smith won the toss and sent the Sixers into bat, Warner got off to a blazing start as he cracked three boundaries before a mix-up that saw both batters at the same end.

With Warner at the non-striker's end, the Australian set off for a quick single after his partner Towhid Hridoy worked one to the leg-side.

Hridoy, however, stayed put and the Victorians claimed a simple run out down the other end. The matter of who had actually been dismissed took some time for the third umpire to work out.

Television replays showed Warner had touched his foot down at the striker's end marginally before Hridoy grounded his bat back in his crease.

But as the Laws of Cricket spell out, the non-striker's end's 'ground' belongs to whichever batter "was nearer to it immediately prior to their (the batsmen) drawing level".

That meant that under the Laws, Warner was out, even though he had reached the striker's end ground a split second before Hridoy.

A clearly displeased Warner had to walk off after scoring 14 from 13 balls with Sylhet reeling at 2-23 in the fifth over.

His dissatisfaction would not have eased when Hridoy departed five overs later for a sluggish eight off 24 deliveries.

Batting at No.4 in reply, Smith reached 16 off 17 balls before being given out caught behind on a review from Warner's Sixers. The Victorians went on to reel in their target of 128 in the final over. 

Both Warner and Smith are serving 12-month bans from international and Australian top-flight domestic cricket due to their involvement in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

In a rare interview in Dhaka ahead of the start of the BPL, Warner said he's hoping to find form ahead of a possible recall to the national side for this year's World Cup.

"It is up to the selectors whether or not they want to pick me," said Warner, who will also link up with Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad in March.

"At the end of the day, all I can do is score runs in this tournament and the IPL, keep putting my hand up and making sure that I am the best person I can be."

The last time Smith and Warner played in Dhaka in late 2017, the pair were captain and vice-captain of Australia's first Test tour to the densely-populated south Asian country in more than a decade.

In the first Test of that series, Warner struck a drought-breaking century – his first in Asia in three years – in a famous Bangladesh victory.