FRACAS AT R PREMADASA

Video footage of dressing room damage inconclusive

by Rex Clementine • Published on

The broken glass door in the Bangladesh dressing room after the match was completeled © AFP

The ground staff at R. Premadasa Stadium have reported to Match Referee Chris Broad that the CCTV footage doesn't give any indications as to who caused damage to the visitors' dressing room door during the tense last group game between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka on Friday night (March 16) in Colombo.

The ground management had been instructed by Broad to go through the video footage and report back to him. On Saturday morning, he was informed that CCTV cameras do not penetrate into the dressing room to find out exactly what took place.

There were eyewitnesses (dressing room attendants) who suggested that a senior Bangladeshi player had pushed the glass door forcefully causing the damage but the Match Referee refused to take a third party's version into account and wanted the venue officials to make the claim. Since none of the officials had seen the incident, they declined to name any player.

Cricbuzz can confirm that the incident happened immediately after the winning six was scored by Mahmudullah Riyad and not afterwards during the celebrations.

Friday's game was a virtual semi-final and needing 12 runs off the last over, the tourists won by two wickets off the penultimate ball of the game.

During the dramatic final over, there were ugly scenes as players argued with umpires and with each other. Officials are going through the footage of the last stages of the game to determine whether they could charge any player.

Isuru Udana's first ball of the last over to Mustafizur Rahman was a bouncer and there was an appeal for caught behind as well. Umpire Ravindra Wimalasiri turned down the appeal and Sri Lanka opted to review. Amidst the tension and drama, Wimalasiri failed to indicate 'one for the over'. Since the umpire had not signalled, Udana followed it up with another bouncer. As per ICC rules, only one bouncer per over is allowed.

"I think the head umpire didn't call it (one bouncer for the over) so it's a legal delivery," Kusal Janith Perera, who top scored for Sri Lanka with 61 runs told journalists at post match media briefing.

Mustafizur didn't make contact with the second bouncer but attempted a single and was run out at the non-striker's end. At this point, Mahmudullah Riyad protested that the leg-umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge had called a no ball, but later the umpires had withdrawn the call.

"I don't want to talk about it, but what happened was that the square-leg umpire called a no-ball and after a discussion they cancelled it. I didn't think it was the right decision," Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan told during the post match media briefing.

With the no-ball not being called, Shakib indicated to his players to return to the dressing room. The batsmen marched towards the boundary but sensibly were sent back by Bangladesh Manager Khaled Mahmud and the game resumed.

The tournament has gone on smoothly without any incidents until the final group game, but with a spot in the final at play, the teams and players perhaps refused to toe the line. The Bangladesh captain himself could get into trouble for his behaviour but Cricbuzz learns that with the mistake the umpires made causing all the chaos, the officials could soften their stance.

Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis and reserve player Dhananjaya de Silva too got involved in heated altercations with the opposition players and could face some charges.

During their last game against Bangladesh, Sri Lankan players were handed hefty fines and captain Dinesh Chandimal was handed a two match suspension for a serious slow over rate offence. The hosts were at fault again on Friday as they took 101 minutes to finish their overs, which is 16 minutes more than what is allowed in a T20 International.

© Cricbuzz

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