Mashrafe defends Tamim over Stokes argument

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that Tamim Iqbal was not the one at fault during his spat with Ben Stokes at the end of the second ODI in Mirpur. The broadcaster’s footage showed that both Jonny Bairstow and Tamim didn’t let go of their hand shake before engaging into an argument which prompted Stokes to push Tamim to his left and get involved.

Shakib Al Hasan intervened to calm the situation at that point though later Stokes tweeted his displeasure while England captain Jos Buttler and coach Trevor Bayliss said his team will not take a backward step. Mashrafe said that he was not blaming anyone and when asked if he would apologise to Buttler over the previous incident, for which he and Sabbir Rahman were fined 20 per cent of their match fees, did not feel he had to explain the team’s actions.

“I saw the video later and I didn’t find any fault of Tamim or my players,” Mashrafe said. “I am not saying it is anyone’s fault but at the same time I didn’t find any fault in Tamim. We went very normally to shake hands with their players. When we lost the first match, we shook …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com