For several years, whenever a Bangladesh-India match came up, a different atmosphere was created. It is more in the gallery and among the fans than on the field of play. The entire match was full of excitement. If there was a little excitement on the field due to the decision of the umpires, it would spill over into the gallery. That excitement was more intense among the fans and supporters.
In the 2015 World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, the Bangladesh-India match in Melbourne, Australia, the Indian pacer Mohammad Shamir bowled Mahmudullah Riyad’s catch. The Bangladeshi had alleged that fielder Shikhar Dhawan’s leg had touched the boundary line.
Similarly, after Indian opener Rohit Sharma was dismissed by Bangladesh pacer Rubel Hossain, the umpire’s decision to give ‘no ball’ also created a lot of tension.
Those two incidents had long-lasting effects. After that, every time Bangladesh-India faced each other, a tense situation arose between the fans and supporters. Whenever the game against India was played, there was a war-like situation between the fans of the two countries on social media.
In the flow of time, it has gone to the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka match. Not only among the fans, but also on the field, the tiger and lion fight created great excitement. Bangladesh-Sri Lanka cricketers are very emotional in the match. A lot of tension is created.
The first such incident happened in 2018 at the Nidahas Trophy. The Lankan cricketers have created a provocative situation on the field by responding to Bangladesh’s Nagin dance. The situation was quite extreme. Since then, the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka cricket match means extra emotion and excitement for the cricketers of the two teams on the field.
The last provocative situation occurred in the World Cup last year. The incident started with Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews being timed out. Mathews entered the field after the allotted time. It took some more time to bring the helmet before going to the wicket and taking a stance with the guard. And then the bowler Shakib Al Hasan applied for timed out and the umpire declared Mathews out.
Due to that incident, the Lankan cricketers burst into anger due to emotional excitement. Shakib sent him back to the dressing room by appealing for a timed out against a famous and big all-rounder like Mathews. The Lankans were furious.
Then every time Bangladesh and Sri Lanka met, each time there was tension with that timed out. Even when they came to play in Bangladesh, the Lankan cricketers raised their anger by requesting a symbolic time out.
Now it’s a matter of seeing whether there is any tension between the cricketers of the two teams in the World Cup tomorrow Saturday at the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas? Will the Lankans express their anger with the timed out? Or there will be tension on a new issue, that is to be seen.
ARB/MH/ASM
