Das-Kumara

Picture Credit: Twitter

The Super 12 stage of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup has commenced. While Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were both favourites to qualify for this round, the two teams are currently competing against each other in Sharjah. The pressure and emotion of the Super 12 stage are understandably bigger and sometimes overwhelming as a potential place in the semifinals is up for grabs.

Both the teams looked pumped up in the match and while the Bangladesh batters got off to a great start after Sri Lanka invited them to have a bat first, an incident in the middle of the pitch did not quite reflect the true sportsman spirit that cricket is known to uplift.

In the sixth over of the Bangladesh innings when Sri Lanka pacer Lahiru Kumara finally broke the partnership of the Bangladesh openers by dismissing Liton Das, the two players got involved in an ugly exchange of angry words at each other as Das was walking off. The animated discussion was not just a passing remark but continued for longer forcing the umpires to intervene as the batter even showed his bat towards the bowler, after being provoked by what the bowler had said to him.

Check out the video of the incident here:

While it is difficult to gauge what the brawl was all about, it might have been about Kumara's throw towards the striker's end where Mohammad Naim was outside after having hit the ball straight to the bowler. While the right-arm fast bowler was aiming for the stumps, the ball was clearly off target and was at an awkward height which forced the batter to duck out of the way of the ball.

The match referee is almost sure to take a note of the incident and it remains to be seen what action is taken to stop these incidents from happening on the cricket field.

For now, Bangladesh are looking set to post a competitive total against Sri Lanka in this fixture. The match will be followed by the first Group 2 match of the Super 12 where India and Pakistan will begin their campaigns. That fixture will be played at the Dubai International Stadium.