Indian Captain gets a two-match ban from ICC (International Cricket Council) following her two codes of conduct breaches in the Third ODI between India and Bangladesh.
On Tuesday, ICC handed over a two-match suspension to Indian Captain Harmanpreet Kaur for her poor behaviour during and after the third ODI between India and Bangladesh. She received four demerits points from ICC, leading to her Suspension from either 1 Test match or 2 ODIs or 2 T20s. Following the ban, Harmanpreet Kaur will miss two Important Asian Games matches for India in September-October in Hangzhou, China.
What led to the Suspension of the Indian Captain?
During the Third ODI between India and Bangladesh, while facing Nahida Akter in the 34th over of the innings, Harmanpreet Kaur tried to sweep the ball but couldn’t connect it well and the ball went direct to slip after lobbing off her pads.
Even before the appeal of the bowler, Umpire gave the decision out. This led to an outburst and Indian Captain Smashed the stumps with her bat angrily. She was even seen arguing with the umpire during walking off to the pavilion.
The second instance where Indian Captain was seen behaving inappropriately was during Post-Match Conference when she slammed the Umpiring of Tanvir Ahmed and Muhammad Kamruzzan by saying it was pathetic umpiring from them. According to reports, she even asked the Bangladesh team to call out Umpires for team photos as they were part of their win too.
She wasn’t really happy with the decisions given in the series. Apart from her being out of decisions such as the Lbw decision of Yastika Bhatia in the fifth over and the decision of Meghna Singh in the last over were also not perfect.
What were the charges imposed by ICC on Harmanpreet Kaur?
International Cricket Council Imposed two separate breaches of the ICC code of conduct on Harmanpreet Kaur. Indian Captain was fined Three demerit points and 50 per cent of her match fees for Level 2 offence after she was found guilty of breaching article 2.8 of the ICC code of Conduct for players and support personnel, which is charged because of, “Showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.”
Harmanpreet Kaur was also fined 25 per cent of her match fees for an offence of level 1 which is related to “Public Criticism in relation to an incident occurring in an international match.” She also received one demerit point for her action of openly criticising the umpiring in a match.
There was no need for a formal hearing as these offences were admitted by Indian Captain and penalties were implemented promptly. She agreed to the sanctions proposed by Akhter Ahmed of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Referees.
Views of Former Indian skipper Shantha Rangaswamy
On Tuesday, Former Indian Captain Shanta Rangaswamy said, “It was rash behaviour from Kaur.” What she did at the presentation was rash and was not good for the game. She further said Kaur undid all the good work of both the cricketing boards, She told PTI.
Harmanpreet Kaur went there as an ambassador of our country so she should have behaved like one. She added, Kaur is our best batter no doubt about that, but what she did there was unacceptable. Their Captain Nigar Sultana had to walk away with her team as she didn’t feel comfortable.
Meanwhile, India’s vice Captain Smriti Mandhana backed her captain by saying what she did was in the heat of the moment. It could happen to anyone when you are playing for your country and you want to win every game for your country on the big stage. She mentioned the need for neutral umpires in future.
