Watch: Ugly Scenes As Bangladesh, SA Players Get Into Physical Altercation
An ugly incident took place on the cricket field in an Emerging Teams four-day match between Bangladesh and South Africa in Dhaka. With Bangladesh batting and South Africa bowling, players of both teams got involved in a heated altercation, leading to a brawl in the middle of the pitch. The incident was triggered after an exchange between 22-year-old Bangladesh batter Ripon Mondol and 29-year-old Proteas pacer Tshepo Ntuli. The fight was soon joined by other players of the team. No immediate action has been taken yet, but the umpires are set to file an official report before sanctions are imposed.
As per a report by ESPNcricinfo, Ripon had initially smashed a straight six off Ntuli's bowling, leading to an exchange of glares between the bowler and the batter. However, after that, as Ripon moved towards his batting partner, Ntuli charged towards the Bangladesh batter.
The two players were at first involved in a shove, which quickly turned into a bigger brawl. Ntuli pulled Ripon's helmet on multiple occasions, despite the attempted interference of umpire Kamruzzaman. Some of the on-looking South African players also appeared to enter the fight.
It is unclear whether there had been any verbal exchange between the two prior which may have preceded the heated altercation.
Three balls after the incident, Ntuli threw the ball back at Ripon after bowling it, which the Bangladesh batter fended off.
"This is extreme, this is unacceptable. Normally we see verbal altercations in a cricket field but we don't often see a fight. Ntuli struck Ripon's helmet at one point," Nabil Kaiser, one of the on-air commentators, said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
As per the report, the match referee will submit reports of the incident to both the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Cricket South Africa (CSA), before official action is taken.
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