The cricketing rivalry between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka was sparked by something as frivolous as 'Nagin dance' celebration.

The infamous celebration would inevitably come up whenever Bangladesh and Sri Lanka faced off on the cricket field in recent years.

But this budding rivalry between the two South Asian nations went to another level on Monday after the timed out dismissal of Angelo Mathews, who became the first batter to suffer the dismissal in the 146-year history of international cricket during their ICC World Cup game at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

The war of words has already begun with Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan defending his decision and Mathews calling it a 'disgrace'.

In his justification to appealing for the highly unusual dismissal, Shakib equated playing a match for the country to being at war and said that one should be ready to do whatever it takes to win the game for the team and nation.

When asked whether it went against the spirit of the game, the champion all-rounder replied, "Well the ICC then should look into it and change the rules."

On the other hand, Mathews was fuming during the post-match press conference and branded Bangladesh captain Shakib's actions as "disgraceful".

"I don't know where the common sense went because obviously it's disgraceful from Shakib and Bangladesh if they want to play cricket and to stoop down to that level. I think there is something drastically wrong," an angry Mathews told reporters.

This rivalry originated fairly recently as back in the day Sri Lanka used to dominate Bangladesh across all formats.

Things gradually changed as the Tigers started to taste victories over their Sri Lankan counterparts, notably in the 2012 and 2016 Asia Cups. But it turned into a full-blown rivalry during the eventful Nidahas Trophy in 2018.

Bangladesh went on to beat Sri Lanka in their first meeting in the tournament, chasing a mammoth 215 in a Twenty20 encounter, where Mushfiqur Rahim's 'Nagin dance' – irked the hosts.

The next game became a virtual semi-final and it turned into the most heated match played between the two sides till then.

In the last over Bangladesh were denied a wide, after which a furious skipper Shakib gestured the two batters to return to the dressing room, creating a huge chaos in Colombo.

Players from both teams got into heated arguments, Bangladesh's 12th man Nurul Hasan Sohan and Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera got into a very animated confrontation.

After the match resumed, Mahmudullah Riyad clinched a memorable victory for the Tigers to knock the hosts out of the tournament and reach the final.

Right as Mahmudullah hit the winning shot, the entire Bangladesh team ran to the field and began celebrating with the 'Nagin dance'.

Even years after that incident, the two teams are often seen engaging in a war of words.

In the 2022 Asia Cup, Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka termed Bangladesh an 'easier opponent' than Afghanistan and said that the Tigers don't have world-class bowlers apart from Shakib and Mustafizur Rahman.

In reply to Shanka's remarks, Bangladesh's team director and former captain Khaled Mahmud said that Sri Lanka don't even have any world-class bowler in the team. 

It was then another former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene jumped onto the scene and tweeted, "Looks like it's time for Sri Lanka bowlers to show the class and batters to show who they are on the field."

It seems like the perennial Asian rivalry between India and Pakistan now has a true contender as the new subcontinental derby of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has turned on the heat both on and off the field for the years to come.