Dubai/bangalore: The ICC penalised Indian pacer Ishant Sharma and Pakistan batsman Kamran Akmal on Wednesday for an altercation during the opening Twenty20 match between the arch-rivals in Bangalore on Tuesday.
While Akmal was penalised five per cent of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to breaches of Article 2.1.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct, Sharma had to forgo 15 per cent of his match fee for the incident that happened in the 18th over of the Pakistan’s innings.
After reviewing the evidence and the video footage, match referee Roshan Mahanama re-confirmed that Sharma initiated the incident, which was reported by all four umpires. Thus, a penalty of 15 per cent of the match fee was imposed on him.
“The game was played in the true spirit till this incident was initiated by Ishant, who is an experienced cricketer, which led to the umpires and his team mates having to intervene,” Mahanama said in a statement.
The two got into an argument when Akmal was declared not out after he was caught off a no ball by Ishant, and was beaten on the next ball.
Soon both the players exchanged words and wagged fingers at each other. Finally, the ground umpires and Indian players had to intervene and separate the two.
Playing down the face-off between Ishant and Kamran, captains of both the sides said it was a minor argument which ended with an exchange of smiles between the two.
“It happened because of some misunderstanding between the two. The bowler said something else and the batsman understood something else. I am pleased that Ishant had not abused him. We will try to keep this in check,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
His opposite number Mohammad Hafeez said the players doused the issue on the ground itself.
“We have come here to play competitive cricket and such incidents do happen. It is a part of the game. However, Ishant and Akmal ended the issue on the ground by exchanging smiles at each other,” he said.
Apart from the argument between the two, Gautam Gambhir and Mohammad Irfan too glared at each other at the start of the match.
Dhoni said loss of wickets at regular intervals, after being in a strong position at 75 without loss in 10 overs, hurt the team badly.
“The batsmen got out trying to play big shots. We could have easily scored 200 if we had applied our-selves,” Dhoni said. (PTI)