Shoriful Islam brought back the gesture in the first T20I of this series, on March 3, after he took Sri Lanka’s first wicket.
Asked if he would like to tone down the rivalry from his end, 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.”
When there were more questions on the same lines, Nawaz took over. “I think we have moved on from that [timed-out incident]. I think it was a celebration which was misunderstood at that time. It was during the heat of the game. Both teams should forget about it.”
Nawaz said that the two teams get along fine off the field. “I think both teams play really hard. The atmosphere is really nice. They all give their 100%. Sometimes emotions come into the middle. The players are all very friendly outside the boundary line. They fight really hard once they are inside the ground.
“I think that’s what the game is all about. As long as you maintain discipline in the middle and play really hard, and then cross the boundary line and be good to each other, that’s what both teams are expected to do.”
