Sri Lanka players refuse handshakes with Bangladesh team

Monitoring Desk

NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka cricketers refused to shake hands with their Bangladesh counterparts after their tense ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 fixture at New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.

It is pertinent to mention that Bangladesh eliminated Sri Lanka from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 after securing a three-wicket win.

However, the result was overshadowed by heated exchanges between the players from both teams throughout the match.

It started in the 25th over of Sri Lanka innings. Angelo Mathews came to bat but there was a delay as something was wrong with the veteran all-rounder’s helmet. He raised the matter with the umpire and told the umpire about the strap.

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan appealed as they argued that the former Sri Lanka captain had timed out. The latter became the first player to be dismissed in that fashion without facing a ball as he had taken the crease within the two-minute limit.

Angelo Mathews was not in a forgiving mood as he sent a fiery sendoff to Shakib Al Hasan after getting him caught out off his own bowling.

An altercation took place between Sadeera Samarawickrama with Najmul Hasan Shanto, who played a match-winning knock of 90 runs, over his teammate’s dismissal. It is pertinent to mention that the latter had initially approached Shakib Al Hasan and told him to appeal for “timed-out” dismissal.

The situation did not end after the match as Sri Lanka players did not greet the Bangladesh team after the game ended.

Angelo Mathews, in the post-match presentation, said they refused to shake hands with Bangladesh players as they did not respect them nor the sport.

“You need to respect people who respect us. They have to respect the game as well. We are all ambassadors of this beautiful game including the umpires,” the veteran Sri Lanka all-rounder said. “If you don’t respect and don’t use common sense than what more you can ask for.”