Bangladesh's Tamim Iqbal reveals origin of Naagin Dance; 'not started by Mushfiqur Rahim'

Bangladesh cricketer Tamim Iqbal recently opened up on his team members' famous 'Naagin Dance' celebration during their match against Sri Lanka in Nidahas Trophy. Tamim, while speaking to Russell Arnold and Farveez Maharoof on their YouTube channel, said Mushfiqur should not be blamed for the dance as it was his teammate Nazmul Islam who started it. 

Tamim further revealed that Danushka Gunathilaka of Sri Lanka danced that way during their tour of Bangladesh in 2018 after the visitors defeated the home side in a T20I series. Tamim said it got etched in Mushfiqur's mind, who then decided to repeat it after winning the first match against Sri Lanka in Nidahas Trophy. 

"You can't blame Mushfiqur Rahim for that. This thing was started by our leg-spinner Nazmul Islam, he used to do it in BPL and all, and he started doing it in international matches. So, Sri Lanka was touring Bangladesh for a T20I series, which they won. After the final game in Sylhet, I think Danushka Gunathilaka was the one when they won, he started doing this dance. Mushfiqur saw that and it was in his mind," Tamim said.  

"So, after the first game in Nidahas Trophy, where we chased down 215 odd runs to win, Mushfiqur decided to dance a bit and that made the Sri Lankan fans crazy. I remember, we were playing the final against India and we were going through the streets of Colombo to the stadium, there was not one single Sri Lankan who didn't dance looking at us. They were very angry at us," Tamim added.  

Nidahas Trophy final

The final match of the Nidahas Trophy was played between India and Bangladesh. India won the thrilling match by 4 wickets courtesy of an amazing batting performance by wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik. The match was full of suspense as it went down to the wire before India eventually managed to snatch a victory from Bangladesh's jaw. The entire stadium, filled with Sri Lankan fans, then erupted in joy, doing the 'Naagin Dance' celebration to tease Bangladeshi players. 

India had sealed a place in the final after beating Bangladesh by 17 runs in the fifth match of the group stage. Bangladesh, however, got better of Sri Lanka in their last group stage match and beat them to face India in the final. In the final, Rohit Sharma-led India won the toss and elected to bowl first. India restricted Bangladesh to 166 runs in 20 overs. In response, the Men in Green could not control the flow of runs towards the backend of the second innings and handed their neighbours a stunning victory.  

Image: AP/Twitter/@SirJadeja