Akbar says 'sorry' after Bangladesh-India U19 scuffle

Bangladesh made history beating India in a spectacular U-19 World Cup final at Potchefstroom on Sunday, but undesirable incidents followed the match as a scuffle erupted between the two teams.

The young cricketers were locked into an altercation as well as pushed and shoved one another just when the match was over with Bangladesh's Rakibul Hasan taking the winning run.

Bangladesh U19 captain Akbar Ali regretted the incident at the post-match press conference.

"What happened should not have happened," he said. "I don't know what exactly happened. I didn't ask what was going on. But, you know, in the final, emotion can come out, and sometimes the boys were getting pumped, and emotions were coming through. As a youngster, it shouldn't happen. In any position, in any manner, we have to show the respect to the opponent, we should have respect for the game," ESPNcricinfo quoted him saying.

"Cricket is known for being a gentleman's game. So I'll say, I'll be sorry for my team," he added.

ICC match referee Graeme Labrooy will be reporting on an overall basis over the incident on Monday.

The India captain, Priyam Garg, blamed Bangladesh for the whole incident. "We were easy. We think it's part and parcel of the game - you win some and you lose some," ESPNcricinfo reported him as saying. "But their reaction was dirty. I think it shouldn't have happened. But it's okay."

The ICC will carry out a thorough investigation, Anil Patel, the Indian team manager, quoted match referee Labrooy as saying.