Ishant, Akmal fined for spat during Bangalore Twenty20

Bangalore, Dec 26 (IANS) India pacer bowler Ishant Sharma and Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal have been fined for their on-field behaviour during the first Twenty20 intyernational here Tuesday.

Ishant was fine 15 percent of his match fee and Kamran five percent.

The two cricketers were found guilty of Level 1 breaches of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Code following an altercation during the match that Pakistan won by by five wickets.

Akmal was fined by Match Referee Roshan Mahanama, after he pleaded guilty to breaches of Article 2.1.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct of ‘conduct contrary to the spirit of the game’ in the 18th over of the Pakistan innings.

Sharma also pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the same charge. However, Sharma appealed the penalty and a hearing was held.

After reviewing the evidence and the video footage, Mahamana re-confirmed his view that Sharma initiated this incident which was reported by all four umpires – on-field S.Ravi and C.Shamsuddin, third umpire V.A. Kulkarni and fourth official K. Srinath.

“This is clearly a high profile and high intensity series and the players on both sides have been reminded of their responsibility. Both players recognised their duty to set the right type of example through their on-field behaviour and they have accepted that they fell short of the level of conduct required,” said Mahanama.

“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,” he said.

All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a player’s match fee.

IANS 2012-12-26 20:06:10