- Monday, May 06, 2024
Bangladesh made the headlines during the series for a number of wrong reasons, including one incident where their captain sought a DRS review despite the ball hitting the middle of the bat.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE ongoing Test series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in Bangladesh has been in the headlines for a number of comic acts from the home team’s side.
While there was an instance of the Bangladeshi captain seeking a DRS review despite the ball hitting the middle of the bat after the batter offered a forward defensive shot, there was another instance where three fielders in the slips were seen juggling with the ball among themselves after it came to the cordon as a catch, eventually dropping it. The Bangladeshi captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, was one of the ‘culprits’ there as well.
But the incident which left the viewers in splits happened in the second Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram and videos of the moment became viral on social media like wildfire. On this occasion, as many as five Bangladeshi fielders, mostly from the slip area, were seen chasing a ball running towards the boundary line after Sri Lankan batter Prabath Jayasuria played a shot off the bowling of Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud.
Shanto was one among them as well and lobbed the ball back to one of his four colleagues after stopping it himself by taking a slide.
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The unusual scene of so many fielders chasing the ball saw hilarious reactions emerging on social media with some even comparing the situation with a famous scene of the 2001 Indian film ‘Lagaan’ starring Aamir Khan that showed a bunch of villagers, who showed the grit to challenge the mighty British empire in a cricket match in colonial India so that a win could see their tax getting waived off, running after the ball while fielding.
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Another user on Facebook asked where were the remaining six players, saying they should also have joined the party.
R̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶l̶i̶f̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶c̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶p̶i̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶o̶v̶i̶e̶
Movie inspiring a real-life incident 🎥
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.#BANvSL #FanCode pic.twitter.com/1USI5EH9cV— FanCode (@FanCode) April 1, 2024
Bangladesh were in danger of facing a whitewash in the two-Test series as they required another 243 runs on the last day to win the match with just three wickets remaining. The Tigers, as the hosts call them, were bundled out for just 178 in their first innings after Sri Lanka scored 531 runs in their first innings. The visitors declared their second innings at 157 for 7, setting a target of 511 for the hosts who have looked clueless in all departments in this series.
Sri Lanka had set an identical target for Bangladesh in the first Test in Sylhet before bowling them out for only 182 to win by 328 runs.
