Potchefstroom: Moments after Bangladesh clinched their maiden U-19 World Cup trophy an altercation was witnessed among a few players from both the Indian and Bangladesh camp on Sunday at Senwes Park here.
As soon as Rakibul Hasan hit Atharva Ankolekar for a single to cross the 170-run target, the Bangladesh players ran onto the pitch in a wild manner to celebrate the historic feat and most of them displayed aggressive body language.
In fact, one India player rushed to confront and pushed a Bangladeshi player who had allegedly said uncharitable things and it was coach Paras Mhambrey seen calming his boys.
Also, before things could get out of control, the umpire intervened to calm down the players.
Earlier, the Bangladesh players were overtly aggressive while fielding with their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledging the Indian batsmen after every delivery.
In fact, as Bangladesh approached the winning runs, Shoriful was seen swearing multiple times openly on camera.
Although it’s not known as to what triggered the ugly spat, but it definitely tarnished the reputation of the sport.
Interestingly, former South Africa batsman JP Duminy who was on commentary duty in the match shared a video of that incident while congratulating Bangladesh for their historic win.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali, regretted the unwanted aggression from his players which nearly resulted into a free for all after his team won the U-19 ICC World Cup.
"Some of our bowlers were emotional and were pumped up. What happened after the game was unfortunate. I would like to congratulate India," skipper Akbar showed maturity beyond years at the post-match conference.
Talking about the match then, Bangladesh pulled off a stunning three-wicket victory over defending champions India to clinch the coveted title.
Chasing the below-par 178-runs target, the Tigers crossed the finishing line with three wickets in hand after the match was reduced to 46 overs due to rain, with the revised target being 170 runs.
