Nidahas Trophy: Did Shakib Al Hasan smash glass window of Bangladesh dressing room?

Colombo: Verbal duels, thrilling last-minute finishes and the famous Naagin dance. The recently-concluded 2018 Nidahas Trophy which was won by India won’t be forgotten anytime soon. While Dinesh Karthik’s last-ball six in the final against Bangladesh led the Men in Blue to a victory, there was plenty of drama on display even before the summit clash.

In the do-or-die tie between hosts Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, all hell broke loose when a few Bangladesh substitute players indulged in a verbal spat with Kusal Mendis. Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan placed near the boundary was seen arguing with the umpire over certain on-field decisions, requesting his teammates to come off the pitch. Though Mahmudullah booked the visitors’ ticket to the final with a six, things did not end there. The glass window panels of Bangladesh cricket team’s pavilion were left shattered, making things uglier. Match referee Chris Broad soon approached the caterers after the game to find the person responsible for the whole incident as reported by Sri Lankan newspaper The Island. Though the CCTV result was decisive, one of the staff members revealed Shakib forcefully pushed the door which led to the broken glass.

The all-rounder, along with reserve player Nurul Hasan, was later fined 25 percent of his match fee and also awarded one demerit point by the International Cricket Council (ICC). “I understand that it was… tense and an edge-of-the-seat match with (a) place in the final on the line, but the actions of the two players were unacceptable and cannot be condoned as they clearly went overboard. Had the fourth umpire not stopped Shakib and the fielders remonstrating, and then the on-field umpires not intervened between Nurul and Thisara, things could have become worse,” Broad said in his ruling.