Ugly Fight shrouds Bangladesh’s victory in a thriller

Nidahas Trophy 2018

Occasion: Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, 6th T20I

Mahmudullah Riyad hoiked an innocuous penultimate delivery from Isuru Udana towards deep-square leg to seal a thrilling 2-wicket win for Bangladesh over hosts Sri Lanka in a nerve-wracking encounter.

For a match that had all the nitty sub-plots from top-order collapse, valiant recovery to baffling dismissals and a dramatic penultimate ball heist, it is unfortunate that all of it was overshadowed by an ugly altercation over a no-ball that threatened to escalate to a fist fight. There has been a substantial amount of acrimony boiling between the two sides, party due to the ‘Nagin’ dance that they had mockingly traded with each other right Sri Lanka’s tour of Bangladesh last month. This time it escalated to reprehensible levels, this time due to umpire’s failure to call the second bouncer of the over as a no-ball.

After landing the second bouncer of the over which Mustafizur missed before being run-out in a frantic attempt, the square-leg umpire’s initial decision was seemingly reversed. The reversal led to Mahmudullah checking on with the umpires while all this was going on, an ugly ruckus ensued between a couple of Bangladeshi reserves who had stormed into the field with drinks and had become embroiled in an argument and a seemingly animated Shakib Al Hassan came down the stairs to the boundary and  indulged in talks with the fourth umpire whilst asking his batsmen to come off the field.

The focus temporarily shifted to the match with Bangladesh still requiring 14 off the last 4 balls and when Mahmudullah drilled Udana to a six over the deep square leg, his euphoric teammates made their way to the ground to cap off another version of the ‘Nagin’ dance when another altercation ensued, this time Kusala Perera letting out the choice words at the Bangladeshi players that prompted Tamim to put an arm around his opposite number to calm down the situation.

While Shakib, who was handed one demerit point, acknowledged the need to stay calm in such situations, the ugly scenes at the end of the match instigated a furor which was exemplified when the window of the visitors’ dressing room was found damaged. The incident has been reported to the ICC about the incident by the ground officials, who have been tasked by the referee Chris Broad to dive into the CCTV footage to ascertain the culprit.