Bangladesh produced perhaps the greenest top in their cricketing history in Sylhet on Monday to welcome Sri Lanka for the all-format tour beginning with a three-match T20I series and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto, taking the reins for the first time as the full-time captain, unsurprisingly handed the ball to lethal left-arm quick Shoriful Islam after winning the toss. The pacer kicked off the encounter by sliding a ball full and wide to Avishka Fernando to which the opener responded by slashing as hard as he possibly could and the Kookaburra flew off the outside edge to the third man boundary -- what followed was box office entertainment.
Confident in his approach, Shoriful relented with another wide half volley but this time the ensuing edge was much fainter and carried straight into Litton Das' gloves for the opening breakthrough. Pumped beyond measure, Shotiful roared in ecstasy while leaping in the air and throwing fist pumps around, all the time preparing a brutal snide at the Lions. Shoriful turned to the Sri Lankan dugout with purpose and tapped on his wrists with a vengeful expression before being jumped on by his teammates.
The 22-year-old was evidently directing his taunt towards Angelo Mathews, who had become the first and so far only batter in international cricket history to be timed out when the two sides had last met at the ODI World Cup in Delhi. Even though the huge controversy that had followed the incident had completely died down in the four months since, Shoriful ensured the event remained fresh in the criicketing fraternity's mind much to Twitterati's delight.
Cooked!!
Cook ‘em Shoriful ⌚️
— Sujoy (@sujoyxx)
Pacers paradise
Green Top At Sylhet !
— Rahul Choudhary (@Rchoudhary0707)
Yup
Test match pitch for a T20?
— 𝗛𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗮 𝗝𝗮𝘆𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗲 (@Hasitha71)
True
Avishka Dada collects lots of low scores at times.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS)
Too much
New Zealand looking at this green wicket saying 'Nah, too much mate'...
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander)
Crazy
What a celebration!!
— Shanaka Kundu (@KunduShanaka)
Iconic
Shoriful just 'timed out' Fernando!!
— Shanaka Kundu (@KunduShanaka)
Too good!
OMG!! WHAT A DELIVERY SHORIFULLL!!!
— Shanaka Kundu (@KunduShanaka)
Tigers on the charge
FIRST BLOOD FOR BANGLA TIGERS!!
— Shanaka Kundu (@KunduShanaka)
Time out!
Shoriful kicks off with a bang, delivering a killer ball as the timed-out celebration ignites in Sylhet..
— Debayan (@debayansinha1)
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