Bangladesh scored an incredible come-from-behind win against Sri Lanka in a virtual semi-final of the Nidahas Trophy in Colombo on Friday, but the victory was marred by ugly scenes – on and off the field – towards the end of the match. The Tigers will take on India in the final on Sunday.
Chasing 160 for victory, Mahmudullah Riyad steered Bangladesh home with a six on the penultimate ball but not before a heated exchange of words between the players of the two sides.
Drama unfolded when Mustafizur Rahman missed two bouncers from Isuru Udana in the final over and was run out but the Bangladesh players contested the call, saying it was a no ball due to its height. Bangladesh’s substitute Nurul Hasan, who was on the field carrying drinks, then exchanged a few words with the Sri Lankans, including Thisara Perera.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan looked furious on the boundary and even looked to be waving to his batsmen to return to the pavilion. But sanity prevailed at R Premadasa stadium and the match went on, fortunately for Bangladesh considering how it ended.
When Mahmudullah hit the winning runs, the Bangladeshis in the dugout rushed onto the field and sparked wild celebrations, including Shakib taking off his shirt and waving it – a la Sourav Ganguly and Andrew Flintoff. There was also a heated exchange between Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis and Bangladesh’s Sabbir Rahman, ironically during the post-match handshakes, reported the Dhaka Tribune.
After the match ended, Bangladesh players were also accused of unruly celebrations by the ground staff at the stadium after a glass shutter was found broken in their dressing room. The team did not respond to the allegations, but journalists present said that the International Cricket Council would be investigating the matter.
Twitter soon got talking about the unruly scenes, with most people condemning Shakib and Bangladesh’s behaviour. Mahmudullah, however, came in for some praise for pushing for the match to continue despite his skipper seemingly wanting the batsmen to return to the pavilion.
Shakib came in for more flak because of some remarks he made during the post-match press conference.
It wasn’t long before Twitterati urged the ICC to sanction Bangladesh as it had South African pacer Kagiso Rabada for appearing to shoulder an opposition batsman.
With inputs from AFP
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