The U19 World Cup final saw the players from both India and Bangladesh getting involved in physical altercations after the match ended and ICC will be investigating the matter.
The Super League Final at Potchefstroom was played with high intensity and the aggression was shown right from the beginning of the game by the Bangladesh opening bowlers. The tussle continued throughout the game.
India U19 manager Anil Patel told ESPNCricInfo, “We don’t know what actually happened. Everybody was in shock, absolutely, but we don’t know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know.”
Patel also confirmed that ICC match referee Graeme Labrooy told him that the ICC will be looking into the matter and investigating the incident after watching a few videos.
“The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session and they are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning [on the next step],” he added.
In a video posted by JP Duminy from the ground, it was evident that a few non-playing members of the Bangladesh side came running into the ground after the match and said a few words to the Indian players and jumped in front of them wildly. Later, an Indian player pushed a Bangladesh player who was involved in the wild celebrations.
Indian captain Priyam Garg said after the match, “We were easy. We think it’s part and parcel of the game - you win some and you lose some. But their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn’t have happened. But it’s okay.”
Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali apologized saying, “What happened, it should not [have] happened. I don’t know what exactly happened. I didn’t ask what was going on. But, you know, in the final, emotion can come out, and sometimes the boys were getting pumped, and emotions were coming through.”
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
