India U19 captain Priyam Garg has termed Bangladesh’s reaction after securing the U19 World Cup as dirty. Bangladesh U19 captain Akbar Ali, who was also the Man of the Match in Sunday’s final, apologized for his team’s part in the ugly scenes that were scene breaking out as the match ended. Meanwhile, ICC is reportedly looking at the footage of the clash and is expected to take a decision on Monday.
Bangladesh players were seen rushing onto the field as the winning runs were hit in Sunday’s final. Players from both sides were then seen engaged in a few aggressive exchanges. A Bangladeshi flag was reportedly damaged in the process.
Speaking after the match, India captain Garg said, “Their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn’t have happened. But it’s okay.”
Akbar Ali, expressing regret over the post-match incident, said at the post-match press conference, “We have to show respect to the opponent. What happened, it should not [have] happened.”
“I don’t know what exactly happened. I didn’t ask what was going on. But, you know, in the final, emotion can come out, and sometimes the boys were getting pumped, and emotions were coming through. I’ll say the India-Bangladesh rivalry plays a part, and before the World Cup final, we lost the Asia Cup final to them a couple of months ago,” Akbar said.
“I won’t say it should have happened, but I will be sorry for my side,” he added.
Matches between India and Bangladesh have taken on a different complexion in recent years, with several close matches having gone either way in major ICC events. The rivalry was one of the reasons why Sunday’s final had an added edge to it from the outset. Divyansh Saxena had a ball thrown at him by the bowler, Yashasvi Jaiswal was given a vocal send-off and the India players returned the favour when Bangladesh were batting.
According to Anil Patel, the Indian team manager, the ICC has said the match referee will study the footage of the final minutes of the match and take a decision on Monday.
“We don’t know what actually happened,” Patel told ESPNcrcinfo. “Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don’t know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know.”
He added, “The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session and they are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning [on the next step].”
