DHAKA, NOV 21: Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was fined and given a demerit point by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday for throwing a ball at Bangladesh batsman Afif Hossain during the second Twenty20 international match in Dhaka on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the third over of Bangladesh’s innings when Hossain played a delivery and the ball went straight to Afridi. The pacer collected the ball and threw it towards the stumps only for it to hit Afif, making him drop to the ground. The batsman was within the crease and not apparently intending to take a run when the bill hit him.
Afridi then immediately rushed to Hossain to inquire about him, who hadn’t received any serious injury.
“Shaheen Shah Afridi has been fined 15 per cent of his match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct,” the ICC said in a statement.
Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50pc of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.
The cricket governing body said Afridi was found to have breached Article 2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which states: “throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an International Match.”
It added that “one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Afridi, for whom it was the first offence in a 24-month period.”
Afridi admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by an ICC referee, hence there was no need for a formal hearing, the statement added.
After the match, Afridi had also gone up to Hossain and the two players gently shook hands before moving on.
A day earlier, pacer Hasan Ali was reprimanded for violating Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during Pakistan’s first Twenty20 against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Friday.
The incident had occurred in the 17th over of Bangladesh’s innings, when Ali made an inappropriate gesture towards batter Nurul Hasan after dismissing him, the ICC’s statement had said.
Ali was found to have breached Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures that disparage or could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an international match”.
