Shanto not amused by Lankans’ celebration

The tensions relating to the timed out dismissal of Sri Lanka's Angelo Matthews during the 2023 ICC World Cup match against Bangladesh came back to the fore between the two sides as the Lankans celebrated their T20I series win by pointing to their wrists. 

 

Sri Lanka took the series 2-1 with a 28-run win in the third and final T20I at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The visitors celebrated with the trophy and made sure to pose with one hand pointing to the wrist of another indicating the time.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto didn't quite appreciate the manner of the celebration and said that the Lankans ''are yet to move on'' from the incident. 

"There is nothing to handle aggressively when it comes to this. I think they are yet to move on from the timed out dismissal. They should move on and stay in the present since we didn't do anything which outside the rules of cricket. I think they are making a fuss of it but we are not worried about it," Shanto told the media during the post-match press conference.

It was the first time since the two teams faced each other in the ICC World Cup last year when the ''timed out'' incident took place. Five months later, it was Bangladesh's left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam who reminded everyone of the incident when he celebrated by pointing to his wrist after dismissing Avishka Fernando in the first T20I on Monday.

Sri Lanka batter Kusal Mendis, however, sidestepped the discussion, asserting that the celebration in question was not intended to rub the incident on the Tigers' faces. 

"Everyone can celebrate in their own way and I think we didn't do it like that as everyone was happy and celebrated," Mendis said post match.

Sri Lanka's assistant coach Naveed Nawaz, who was sitting beside Mendis in the press conference, also stepped in to answer the question about the celebration on behalf of Matthews and said it was ''misunderstood''.

"I think we have moved on from that. It was a celebration which was misunderstood at that time. It was during the heat of the game and I think both teams should forget about it and move on and not take anything from here," said Nawaz.