Sri Lankan cricketers came up with an iconic celebration on Saturday (March 9) to rejoice their series win over Bangladesh after winning the 3rd match of the three-match series.
The celebration was the same that Angelo Mathews pulled off after he dismissed Shakib Al Hasan in the ODI World Cup 2023 while playing at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi in retaliation to Shakib's decision to appeal for time-out against the former Sri Lanka captain.
Notably, Mathews was the first player to be adjudged timed-out in international cricket. The incident unfolded on November 6 and it's already been four months to it. However, it seems that the scars it has left on the Sri Lankan players are still fresh and don't seem to be healing anytime soon.
Arguably, the Sri Lankan players can't be solely blamed for rewinding the clock. It was the Bangladesh left-arm speedster Shoriful Islam who imitated Mathews' celebration for the first time in the T20I series after getting rid of Avishka Fernando.
Watch how the Sri Lankan players celebrated after the series win over Bangladesh:
Sri Lanka's ODI skipper Kusal Mendis defended his team's method of celebration by saying "we celebrated because we are happy".
"Someone was doing the timed-out celebrations. I don't know why. We can celebrate our own things. I think we celebrated because we are happy," Mendis was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
On the other hand, when Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto was asked whether he would like to bring the rivalry down from his side, Shanto said: "It is not about aggressive handling or anything like that. They showed the timed-out gesture, right? They haven't moved on from the timed-out incident.
"I think they should get out of it. They should stay in the present. We were within the rules (with the timed-out dismissal). They are in a frenzy about it. I am not too worried about it."
