Bangladesh’s Shoriful Islam reacts during the ICC U19 World Cup final between India and Bangladesh, in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Feb 9, 2020. (Photo: Twitter/@cricketworldcup)

Bangladesh’s win over India in the U19 World Cup final last Sunday was marred by post-match scenes that saw players from both sides engaged in a few aggressive exchanges after the winning moments. India U19 captain Priyam Garg had termed the Bangladeshi players’ reaction ‘dirty’. Three Bangladesh players and two India players were reprimanded by the ICC after the match.

Speaking after the match, Bangladesh U19 pace bowler Shoriful Islam said the ‘dirty behaviour’ after the match was because of past history. “Actually, we lost two close matches against them in the past. One was the Asia Cup semifinal [in 2018] and the other was a [Asia Cup] final [in 2019]. I can’t describe what those defeats felt like,” Islam told Daily Star.

“Before taking the field for the final, all I could think about was what they did after winning and how we felt after losing. They celebrated wildly in front of us back then and we couldn’t say anything. We were waiting for the day we would meet them in a final again,” Islam added.

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Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan of Bangladesh and Indians Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi were all charged with breaches of the ICC code of conduct and handed international suspensions of between four and 10 matches.

There were more than a few moments in the U19 World Cup final that saw tempers flare. Shoriful Islam himself gave a theatrical send-off to India’s star batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal after getting him out.

On asked if revenge was on Bangladesh’s mind in the match, Islam said, “Yes. We got the chance. What I wanted was to give it our all. Then they would know what it is like when someone celebrates in front of you like that after you’ve lost.”