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Story of 'Naagin Dance': The mocking jibe during Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka match
On Thursday, Sri Lanka prevailed over Bangladesh in the last over and won by two wickets in a virtual qualifier match for super four in Asia Cup 2022. Sri Lanka's victory triggered wild celebrations which also saw bowler Chamika Karunaratne mocking the Bangladesh side with 'Nagin dance' celebration.
In the virtual qualifier match for Asia Cup 2022 Super Four on Thursday, Sri Lanka knocked out Bangladesh in a thriller and stormed into the next stage of the tournament. In a roller-coaster match that had its twists and turns, Sri Lanka prevailed over Bangladesh in the last over, winning the match by two wickets. Sri Lanka's victory triggered wild celebrations in the change room, which saw bowler Chamika Karunaratne mocking Bangladesh with the now famous 'Nagin Dance' celebration.
Earlier during the build-up to the contest, Sri Lanka Captain Dasun Shanaka had belittled Bangladesh by calling it an 'easier opponent' than Afghanistan. Shanaka even said that Bangladesh lacked world-class bowler except Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan. Its team director Khaled Mahmud then stirred up the pot further by retorting that Sri Lanka didn't have any world-class bowler at all. That is when former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene joined in, rallied behind the team and motivated them to show what they are capable of against Bangladesh.
The verbal volleys and jibes from both sides had raised the stakes. The entire episode culminated with Sri Lankan players breaking into celebrations and the trolling of Bangladesh by Karunaratne's 'Naagin Dance' took twitter and social media by storm.
The story of 'Naagin Dance' celebration is a rather interesting one. For Bangladesh, it originated in Bangladesh Premier League match in 2016 when bowler Nazmul Islam Apu did the snake dance celebration after taking a wicket. Later when Nazmul made his T20I debut against Sri Lanka in February 2018, he repeated the celebration after getting Sri Lankan wickets including that of Danushka Gunathilaka. His teammates joined him in mimicking the hooded snake celebration.
In the next match, Sri Lanka all-rounder Gunathilaka who was at the receiving end of 'Naagin Dance' celebration, gave it back by mimicking it when he got Bangladesh's Abu Jayed stumped in the 19th over to win the match for his side. The celebration by Gunathilaka didn't go down well with Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim.
A month later in March 2018, when Bangladesh faced off against Sri Lanka in the T20I Tri-Series Nidahas Trophy, Rahim played a swashbuckling innings of 72 not out off 35 balls and won the match for Bangladesh. In celebration, Rahim then pulled out the 'Naagin Dance' again for Bangladesh. When Bangladesh met Sri Lanka again in the sixth match of the tournament, which was a virtual qualifier for the finals against India, needing 6 off the last two balls in the final over, Bangladesh batsman Mahmudullah smacked a six on the penultimate delivery to win it for Bangladesh.
reAs the Bangladesh players ran out to the field, the entire lot started doing the dance again in celebration. From that moment, the 'Naagin Dance' celebration trend picked up, and going by how Sri Lanka's players gave it back on Thursday night after sending Bangladesh packing from the Asia Cup, it seemed pretty evident that they were waiting for this moment since the last four years.
