If tension started with Railways captain Murali Kartik 'Mankading' Bengal's Sandipan Das at the stroke of lunch on the third day, it ended on a very sour note with Bengal players refusing a customary handshake with the Railwaymen at the end of the match as the home team decided to continue playing all the mandatory overs.
In the morning, the Railwaymen indulged in some mindless sledging led by their captain Kartik. In fact, Kartik waited near the stumps when Ashoke Dinda came into bat and gave him a 'warm reception' before umpire Milind Pathak intervened.
Such was the noise made by Railways players that Laxmi Ratan Shukla even complained to the umpires, who told Kartik to control his slip cordon players.
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When PTI asked Upadhyay about the incident, he said, "It wasn't aimed at Maco (Paul's nickname) but I couldn't control my anger as Dinda had said something really abusive. We played in IPL for same team (Pune Warriors) and suddenly he becomes abusive."
Once the proceedings were over, Bengal's stand-in captain Dinda (leading in absence of injured Laxmi Ratan Shukla) and a few others didn't even shake hands with the two not out batsmen Harshad Rawle and Nitin Bhille as the other Railway players trooped out.
After a few minutes, Kartik led his team and went towards the Bengal team huddle where the boys were sitting.
To everyone's horror, none of the Bengal boys wanted to shake hands with the Railways players. As Kartik walked up to each and every player, they simply told the former India left-arm spinner to leave them alone.
Kartik and his boys then went back into the dressing room.