CHENNAI: The under-19 World Cup final between India and Bangladesh ended on a controversial note, with players from the two sides confronting each other soon after the latter defeated the defending champions to win their maiden ICC title on Sunday. A day after the fracas in South Africa’s Potchefstroom, India’s team manager Anil Patel said that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by the Bangladeshi cricketers.
“I spoke to the match referee (Graeme Labrooy of Sri Lanka) about it and complained about the unruly behaviour of the Bangladeshi players. He told me that the ICC has taken the matter seriously and he will get back to me soon,” Patel told this daily on Monday. Meanwhile, in a reply to a query made in this regard, ICC said the matter has been reported and a decision will be made. “As per the protocol, any on-field code of conduct reported by the match officials will be announced by it in due course through normal channels,” the ICC said.
The Indian team will leave for Mumbai on Tuesday. The closely-contested final witnessed several moments when players from both sides had a go at each other. It finally got out of control after a few Bangladeshis players allegedly got carried away while celebrating their historic triumph. A few members from the team rushed to the ground after Rakibul Hasan hit the winning run and allegedly misbehaved with the Indian players, which led to the confrontation. The situation was eventually defused by the support staff from both the sides and on-field officials.
Patel also told media persons that the ICC will watch the footage of the last few minutes of the match before arriving at any decision. “Whatever transpired on the field after Bangladesh’s win shocked all of us. We don’t know what happened” Patel was quoted as saying.
India captain Priyam Garg has called the aggressive celebration of the Bangladesh players “dirty” while his Bangladeshi counterpart Akbar Ali apologised for the “unfortunate incident”. “We were okay. It’s part and parcel of the game . But their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn’t have happened. But it’s okay,” Garg was quoted as saying.“As a youngster, we realise that this shouldn’t happen. In any position, in any manner, we have to show respect to the opponent,. Cricket is known for being a gentleman’s game. I’ll be sorry for my team,” said Ali.