Shakib booed by Sri Lankan fans after final

Shakib Al Hasan, the Bangladesh skipper, was booed by the crowd at the R Premadasa stadium on Sunday after his team suffered a heart-breaking four-wicket loss against India on Sunday. 

Chasing 167, India was rescued by a magnificent cameo of 29 from eight balls from Dinesh Karthik. The Indian wicketkeeper struck 22 runs in the 19th over bowled by Rubel Hossain and sealed the match with a last-ball six to spark off celebrations in the Indian camp. 

Speaking in the post-match press conference, Shakib said they did not expect any kind of crowd support. 

“We don’t expect away crowds to support us. We were not focusing on that. It would have been nice if they had supported us, but these things can happen. We were not worried about who was supporting whom. It was important for us to play some good cricket on the field,” the Bangladesh skipper said.

During the break, many Sri Lankan fans were seen doing the Nagin dance (Snake dance) in an apparent attempt to mock the Bangladesh team. The crowd support for the final was stacked heavily in favour of India while the local Sri Lankan media, along with the country’s social media criticised the behavior of the Bangladesh team in the game against Sri Lanka.

The animosity of the Sri Lankan crowd at the R Premadasa stadium against the Bangladesh cricket team started after the end of the last league game between the two sides.

In the last over of that match, Bangladesh had felt that the umpires should have signaled a no-ball after two bouncers but the officials did not do it. When some Bangladeshi substitute players engaged in a verbal joust with Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis, Bangladesh’s skipper angrily told his players to come off the field standing near the boundary.

After Mahmudullah hit a six off Isuru Udana to qualify for the final, the Bangladesh players ran out to the field and did the nagin dance. Later, a photo merged of broken glass panels in Bangladesh cricket team’s pavilion. An ICC investigation proved inconclusive, although Shakib and Nurul Hasan, the substitute who was involved in the verbal arguments, were fined 25 percent of their match fee.

Source: Hindustan Times