Bangladesh paceman Shoriful Islam grabbed eyeballs with his celebration after taking the wicket of Avishka Fernando in the first T20I match at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, Sylhet. Islam taunted the Sri Lankan team especially Angelo Mathews with his ‘timed-out’ celebration after getting the better of Fernando.
The taunting celebration re-ignited the rivalry between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which was fired up during the 2023 ODI World Cup when Mathews became the first player to get timed out in cricket history.
Meanwhile, Fernando who is going through a rough patch, failed to score big on Monday and was dismissed for 4. Shoriful pitched it full outside off as the Sri Lankan opener drove it but only managed to edge it as Litton Das’ grabbed it cleanly to end his stay in the middle.
Shoriful’s celebration took the cricket fans back to the ODI World Cup as he added salt to Sri Lanka’s old wounds with the ‘timed-out’ taunt.
Earlier, in the high-octane WC match at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Mathews failed to take strike within the stipulated time of two minutes following the dismissal of Sadeera Samarawickrama as Bangladesh skipper Shakib al Hasan appealed for a wicket. The umpire checked with the third umpire and gave him out as he was late to take a strike, the dismissal triggered a huge controversy. Mathews also took shots at Shakib after the match but the latter remained adamant and said he had no regrets about his decision to appeal, which he refused to withdraw even after being asked by the umpires.
Coming back to the BAN vs SL 1st T20I match, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and elected to bowl first on a green top.
“I like to bowl first, especially with a lot of dew coming, that’s why. We have very good players, we are playing with two spinners and three seamers,” Shanto said.
Meanwhile, Asalanka said the three-match series is going to be crucial for Sri Lanka for T20 WC preparations.
“170-plus is what we will be targeting. To be honest, we are focusing on this tournament. We would be focusing on playing well before the World Cup,” he added.
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Soumya Sarkar, Litton Das(w), Najmul Hossain Shanto(c), Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Jaker Ali, Mahedi Hasan, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Rishad Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis(w), Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Charith Asalanka(c), Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Binura Fernando, Matheesha Pathirana
