Mumbai: Anjuman-I-Islam (Urdu) coach Siraj Qureshi yesterday claimed Harris Shield Elite Division defending champions Rizvi Springfield (Bandra) abused his boys in a verbal duel between players saw play on Day Two of the semi-final at Shivaji Park held up briefly yesterday.

The incident took place after the Bandra team were bowled out for 327 in 69.3 overs. With an hour’s play left, Anjuman batsman Ashok Yadav and Rizvi fielder Vaibhav Kalamkar got into a heated argument. 

Both teams came onto the field and umpires JB Javkar and Sandeep Thakur had to intervene to ensure play went on. Anjuman ended the day at 101-2.

Anjuman coach Qureshi said: “Rizvi’s Sidak Singh and Azim Shaikh abused our openers Mehtab Ansari (0) and Faiz Rathod (38). Rizvi cannot take defeat sportingly. They kept abusing our batsmen and if not for the umpires, they wouldn’t have calmed down.”

Rizvi coach Raju Pathak however, blamed the opposition for misbehaving. “It’s a normal practice that both teams cheer each other’s players. Our players wouldn’t retaliate unless someone instigated them. It was Anjuman’s Ashok (Yadav), who pushed Vaibhav (Kalamkar),” he said.