The 3rd ODI between India and Bangladesh women’s teams concluded on the most chaotic note, with Harmanpreet Kaur deciding to publicly launch an attack on the officials. Having already created a ruckus by smashing her stumps over her dismissal and by speaking ill of the officials in the presentation ceremony, Harman was also accused of disrespecting the Bangladesh captain and the team by calling the umpires for the post-series photograph. A video has gone viral on social media where Harmanpreet does seem to be asking someone to join the series-end photoshoot involving the Indian and Bangladesh teams.
It was reported by ESPNCricinfo that the India captain shouted during the photoshoot, “bring the umpires too”, suggesting that the officials too are part of the Bangladesh team, hence, they should be included in the photographs too.
The video that went viral on social media all but confirmed that Harmanpreet did say something of these lines. Such an act by the Indian captain prompted her Bangladesh counterpart Nigar Nigar Sultana to take her team back to the dressing room.
Bangladesh-W captain & her team left the photo session after Indian-W captain Harmanpreet Kaur told them,
-“Why you are only here? You haven’t tied the match. The umpires did it for you. Call them up! We better have photo with them as well.”BCB to notify BCCI & ICC soon. pic.twitter.com/PnyEQxoYuC
— SazzaDul Islam (@iam_sazzad) July 23, 2023
“It is totally her problem. I have nothing to do with it,” Bangladesh captain Nigar said in the press conference after the match. “As a player, she could have shown better manners. I can’t tell you what happened, but it didn’t feel right to be there [for the photograph] with my team. It wasn’t the right environment. That’s why we went back. Cricket is a game of discipline and respect.”
Even India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was asked about the said incident in the post-match press conference. Mandhana confirmed that Harmanpreet did say a few words against the umpires but nothing was directed at the Bangladesh captain or the team.
“I don’t think she said anything towards the Bangladesh captain. From whatever I heard, think talked a bit about umpiring. I don’t think she said anything about them (the Bangladesh players).
“We should not talk about things which did not happen during the match. In the post-match things were not on camera, that is something which happened after the post-match presentation, so let’s not talk about it,” Mandhana had said in the presser.
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