Reports: ICC to take action against Bangladesh U-19 players 

The Bangladesh U-19 cricket team scripted history as they defeated India by three wickets in the final of the ICC U19 World Cup 2020 to bag their first-ever world title. However, their exceptional performance was overshadowed with the events which followed after their historic victory.

As Rakibul Hasan hit the winning runs, the whole Bangladesh team along with the support staff rushed onto the ground and got into a verbal and physical tussle with the Indian cricketers. Indian U-19 manager Anil Patel was flabbergasted with the turn of the events and revealed that the ICC will watch the video of the last few moments on the field and give their verdict on Monday. Speaking about the incident, Patel said:

“We don’t know what actually happened. 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.”

Patel further revealed that the Indian team management wanted to take the matter to the match referee but the match referee Labrooy himself took the matter into his hands and clarified that ICC will take the matter seriously and give their verdict after looking at the video footage.

“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].”

Priyam Garg, the Indian skipper, expressed his disappointment at the conduct of Bangladesh and termed their reaction as dirty. The scenes turned very ugly in Potchefstroom after Bangladesh’s victory as an Indian player pushed a Bangladesh player after the latter had used foul words.

Suddenly more players got involved and pushing continued for nearly a minute before match officials intervened. Eventually, it was Paras Mhambrey, India’s coach, who had to push them to the dressing room.

Speaking on the incident, Garg said,

“We were easy. We think it’s part and parcel of the game - you win some and you lose some. But their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn’t have happened. But it’s okay.

Meanwhile, opposition skipper Akbar Ali also condemned the incident and said it shouldn’t have happened.

“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,” Ali said.

“As a youngster, it shouldn’t happen. In any position, in any manner, we have to show the respect to the opponent, we should have respect for the game. Cricket is known for being a gentleman’s game. So I’ll say, I’ll be sorry for my team,” he added.

All through the match, there were several altercations between the players. In the second over of the match, Bangladesh speedster Tanzim Hasan Shakib hurled a throw at Divyansh Saxena on his follow-through which missed Saxena’s head by a whisker.

The bowler didn’t even apologise to the batsman following his misdirected throw. The Indian players were not far away either. Spin wizard Ravi Bishnoi gave animated send-offs to Bangladesh batters after he wreaked havoc in the middle order.