BAN vs SL: Watch - Shoriful Islam And Kusal Mendis Involved In A Verbal Spat During Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup Clash

During the second match of the Asia Cup 2023 between Sri Lanka National Cricket Team and Bangladesh National Cricket Team, Shoriful Islam and Kusal Mendis were involved in a verbal spat.

The match between the Group B teams was hosted by the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Thursday, August 31. Some of the recent matches between these two Asian teams have been nail-biters and the players have often been engaged in banters and seen pulling off the ‘Naagin Dance’ celebration to tease the opposition.

In the latest edition of the Naagin Derby, Sri Lanka’s weakened bowling unit dominated the first innings and bundled out the Bangla Tigers for 164 with Najmul Hossain Shanto being the sole good performer for his side with 89 runs under this belt.

Notably, Sri Lanka are playing in the continental tournament in the absence of four first-choice bowlers in Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Dilshan Madhushanka, and Wanindu Hasaranga.

Meanwhile, during the second innings of the match, the 28-year-old Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter Mendis and the 22-year-old Bangladesh left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam exchanged a few words in the middle of the game.

The pacer bowled a full-length ball outside off-stump on the final delivery of the 4th over, and Mendis decided to leave the delivery. Just after that, Islam said something and Mendis was unhappy with that. The players came close to each other and Shoriful Islam indicated that he was talking to his keeper Mushfiqur Rahim and not Mendis. The on-field umpire quickly stepped in to separate the players and things went back to normal pretty quickly.

Watch – Shoriful Islam And Kusal Mendis Involved In A Verbal Spat

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— No-No-Crix (@Hanji_CricDekho) August 31, 2023

Chasing a low total in the match, openers Dimuth Karunaratne and Pathum Nissanka failed miserably. They were cleaned up by Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam inside four overs of the innings. Also, Mendis, who was struggling in the middle, was cleaned by Shakib Al Hasan in the 10th over. He scored just 5 runs off 21 balls before walking back to the hut.