Shards of glass lie scattered in front of the Bangladesh dressing room at the R Premadasa Stadium after Friday’s T20. (Source: Twitter)
In the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy, played in Colombo, there were some unsavoury scenes in the do-or-die clash between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa Stadium. In a contentious decision with the game posied evenly late on, Shakib Al Hasan called back his players at one point after umpires failed to call a no-ball for a second bouncer in the over by Isuru Udana. As things transpired, Bangladesh went on to clinch the game with Mahmudullah Riyad sealing Sri Lanka’s fate with a match winning six off the penultimate delivery of the game.
Things didn’t just end there. Certain players clashed instead of the customary and traditional handshakes thus undermining the spirit of the gentleman’s game. Tempers withstanding, the glass door of the dressing room was broken. CCTV footage remained inconclusive as to who caused the damage, but reports in Sri Lanka suggest Match Referee Chris Broad spoke to the caterers in the dressing room to find out the guilty person. The caterers have reportedly informed Broad that Shakib was behind the destruction. As per eyewitness account, also relayed to Broad, the Bangladeshi captain had forcefully pushed the door causing the damage.
Broad later handed a 25 percent fine to Shakib and one demerit point. Shakib had pleaded guilty to the charge of “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”.
Bangladesh reserve player Nurul Hasan, who was sent to the field with a message from the dressing room, was also involved in a spat with Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera. Nurul pleaded guilty to unruly behaviour and was also fined 25 percent of his match fee and awarded one demerit point.
Broad in his ruling said, “I understand that it was… tense and an edge-of-the-seat match with (a) place in the final on the line, but the actions of the two players were unacceptable and cannot be condoned as they clearly went overboard. Had the fourth umpire not stopped Shakib and the fielders remonstrating, and then the on-field umpires not intervened between Nurul and Thisara, things could have become worse.”