New Delhi: Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is likely to receive a penalty of four demerits for her alleged poor on-field and off-field conduct in the India’s third and final ODI against Bangladesh. She expressed her frustration against ‘poor umpiring’ strongly on the field and later in the post-match presentation.
As per ESPNCricinfo, while the International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to send a final verdict or penalty, Harmanpreeet could become the first-ever women’s player to be found guilty of Level 2 breach of ICC Code of Conduct, which deals with the behaviour of players. After she was given out by on-field umpire Tanvir Ahmed on Saturday after being caught at slips, the Indian skipper expressed her displeasure with the decision by smashing her bat on the stumps and by making a gesture of protest to the umpire before leaving. Later after the match, she termed the umpiring standards in the series as ‘pathetic’.
The match officials have recommended a total of three demerit points for damaging playing equipment and one for publicly criticising match officials. The final decision is in the hands of ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is talking to the world governing body of cricket on the matter. As per ICC’s rules, when a player gets four or more demerit points within a 24-month period, they get converted into suspension points. Anything between four to seven demerit points is equal to two suspension points, that is, ban from one Test, two ODIs or two T20Is, whichever is the part of player’s immediate schedule.
The last point that Harmanpreet earned a demerit point was during the semifinal of the ODI World Cup 2017 against Australia. After hitting Kristen Beams through midwicket, Harmanpreet was involved in a mix-up with her partner Deepti Sharma before completing a double which brought her century. Instead of celebrating her milestone, Harmanpreet threw her helmet on the ground and fired some words at Deepti. Eventually, the batter was found guilty of a Level 1 offence, which she accepted. In the ICC’s latest list – which has incidents up to 2016 – that was released on June 7 this year, there are 29 women cricketers who have been found guilty of breaching the code of conduct. Veda Krishnamurthy is the other Indian player to have been found guilty on two occasions.
Players breaking stumps, either with a bat or by kicking at them after an umpire decision has happened before. The most recent case also happened in Bangladesh in men’s cricket. Bangladesh’s star all-rounder Shakib al Hasan was fined and received a three-match suspension for kicking at stumps and later, ripping them out and throwing them on the ground in protest of the umpire’s decision, which saw the official turn down his leg-before-wicket appeal. This took place in a Dhaka Premier League (DPL) match between Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club.
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