B’Desh Skipper Akbar Ali Apologises For Ugly Spat After WC Final

As Bangladesh approached the winning runs, Shoriful Islam could be seen swearing multiple times openly on camera.

Bangladesh skipper Akbar Ali scored a match-winning knock of 43 off 77 deliveries to help his side clinch the under-19 World Cup for the first time in history.

(Photo: ICC)

"It's a dream come true" said Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali, who also regretted the unwanted aggression from his players and said he was "sorry" for his team's behaviour.

“Cricket is known for being a gentleman’s game. So I’ll say, I’ll be sorry for my team."

Akbar Ali, Bangladesh captain

"What happened, it should not (have) happened," Akbar said.

"I don't know what exactly happened. I didn't ask what was going on. But, you know, in the final, emotion can come out, and sometimes the boys were getting pumped, and emotions were coming through,” he added

“As a youngster, it shouldn’t happen. In any position, in any manner, we have to show the respect to the opponent, we should have respect for the game.”

Akbar Ali, Bangladesh captain

The Bangladesh players were overtly aggressive while fielding with their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledging the Indian batsmen after every delivery. In fact as Bangladesh approached the winning runs, Shoriful was seen swearing multiple times openly on camera.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and most of them still displaying aggressive body language.

In fact, an India player rushed to confront and pushed a Bangladshi player who had allegedly said uncharitable things and it was coach Paras Mhambrey seen calming his boys.

"It's a dream come true. It's all about the hard work we have done over the last two years. The coaching staff...I just cannot thank them enough for how much support they have given us on and off the field. We've had a very good experience, and this is just the beginning for us. Hopefully, this will be the stepping stone for us," said the skipper, who was also adjudged Man of the Match for his composed unbeaten 43.

He then thanked the Bangladeshi supporters. “Those who have supported us here have been our 12th man. We really appreciate it,” he said.

India skipper Priyam Garg acknowledged it was a poor day with the bat and they would have needed a total of 210-220 to make a match of it.

"It's a bad day, but our boys fought really well. Even with such a low total, we made it difficult for them, and I would like to thank my team for that,” he said.

“The biggest factor was the toss, because the wicket was a bit damp. We had a good start, and we should have got to at least 210-220. That would have been a much better score.”

Priyam Garg, India under-19 skipper

While the bowlers gave away more than 30 runs in extras, Priyam doesn't think it could have been that significant a factor.

"I don't think we could have done much different. For 178, we responded really well, and we lost this because we didn't bat well enough. That's about it. We enjoyed the World Cup. We played a series here too, and this was enjoyable too," he added.