IPL fame and India-A opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was involved in an ugly spat with a Sri Lanka A player, Vishen Halambage, involving physical touch, after the hosts won the thrilling contest via a super over in Dambulla on Monday (Jun 15).
Shortly after Sri Lanka A defended 17 off the super over, tensions arose between the two players, with Niroshan Dickwella intervening to defuse it. Blurry visuals in fading light showed Sooryavanshi and Halambage going at each other, and Dickwella separating the two.
India’s batting prodigy walked back in anger, making hand gestures and expressing his frustration at being unable to help his team win the match.
After the game was tied at the end of 50 overs, with Sri Lanka A scoring 265 for nine, the same as Team India’s first-inning total, a super over was needed to determine the winner. Per the rules, the hosts batted first and clobbered 16 runs in six deliveries. With Vaibhav and Suryansh Shedge, India-A fancied their chances, only to lose the game by seven runs, their second loss in three contested matches.
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Meanwhile, the final hour of play was filled with drama. With Sri Lanka A needing just five to win with two wickets remaining, India-A left-arm quick Arshad Khan conceded only four runs, resulting in a tie.
However, with the light fading away, the two on-field umpires seemed reluctant to take the super over. Given that the cut-off time was 5:30 PM local time, the officials had the option to extend play until they deemed natural light was enough for the action.
Later, India-A captain Tilak Varma was involved in a long chat with the umpires, pushing them to take the super over, which eventually happened after Sri Lanka A also agreed to it.
Not only this, but the super over also had plenty of action besides cricketing shots and boundaries. Arshad, bowling the super over, bowled a high full-toss to Avishka Fernando, who failed to clear the infield and was rather caught, only for the third umpire to rule it a no-ball for height. The Indian players were back in the pavilion by then, preparing for the chase before bad light caused any further disruption. Tilak, along with the team management, spoke with the reserve umpire and walked out with the team to bowl the final ball again.