New Delhi: India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi emerged as one of the best bowlers in the just concluded Under-19 World Cup as he ended the tournament with 17 wickets, but all his good work was eclipsed after the unruly scenes in the summit clash against Bangladesh.
After Bangladesh won the final beating the Priyam Garg-led side by three wickets (via D/L method) at the Senwes Park on Sunday, the players of the two teams were seen engaging in an exchange of words and even some pushing and shoving on the field, leaving a Bangladesh flag damaged in the process.
Bishnoi’s father Mangilal Bishnoi is unable to digest the fact that one of his calmest children couldn’t control his emotIons and lost his cool.
“I wonder what happened to my son, because he is one of my calmest children (Ravi has two elder sisters and one brother). He explained the sequence of events and the circumstances when he lost his cool while trying to save his teammate, who was being attacked by the Bangladeshi players,” Bishnoi’s father was quoted as saying.
“My wife has not eaten anything since yesterday,” he added.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned five players, including three from Bangladesh - Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan - and two from India - Akash Singh and Bishnoi for the scuffle.
He was also handed two demerit points for using “language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter” after dismissing Avishek Das.
Bangladesh Under-19 ace pacer Shoriful Islam, meanwhile, said they were eagerly waiting to meet India - a team against whom Bangladesh had suffered narrow defeats in the recent past.
Before Sunday’s World Cup final, Bangladesh had lost to India twice - once in the Asia Cup semi-final (in 2018) and the other in Asia Cup final (in 2019).
In an interview with Bangladesh’s daily The Daily Star, Shoriful said: “Actually, we lost two close matches against them in the past. One was the Asia Cup semi-final (in 2018) and the other was a (Asia Cup) final (in 2019).
“I can’t describe what those defeats felt like. Before taking the field for the final, all I could think about was what they did after winning and how we felt after losing. So, we didn’t want things to turn out as they did before. We wanted to do our best and fight with all our strength till the last ball,” he added.
In the summit clash, Shoriful bowled with intent and aggression and picked up two wickets, giving away 31 runs in his 10 overs.
