Pakistan’s stand-in captain Shahid Afridi bit the ball and ran his teeth along the seam in an extraordinary finale to Australia’s action-packed two-wicket victory at the WACA on Sunday night and was later banned for two Twenty20 Internationals after being found guilty of ball-tampering for the second time. He had already been in strife for ball tampering, suspended for one Test and two one-dayers in 2005.
Afridi, leading Pakistan for the second time in an ODI, in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, was caught on TV cameras apparently biting the ball on a couple of occasions. The incident was reported to the on-field umpires by the TV umpire and after a chat with Afridi, the umpires changed the ball immediately.
Afridi was called into a hearing with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle immediately after the match. Afridi was charged with an article 2.2.9 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of Law 42.3 of the Laws of Cricket”.
Ball-tampering normally results from fingernails being run down the seam, but Afridi, for reasons only he could explain, seemed intent on putting the entire ball in his mouth.
“We’ve seen a few replays of it — I don’t know what to say,” Ponting said of Afridi’s incident. “I’ve never seen that before. I’m sure that will be dealt with. I really don’t know what to say about it.”
“It’s unacceptable,” Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, said. “It shouldn’t have happened but it happened and I feel sorry for him. Being a captain you should be above everything but unfortunately it’s happened.”
The punishment puts Pakistan into a quandary because Afridi is their Twenty20 captain and they end their tour of Australia with a Twenty20 in Melbourne on February 5. Yousuf, who captained Pakistan in Tests and ODIs, is not part of the Twenty20 squad and Younus Khan, who was captain before the tour of New Zealand, has retired from the format. Shoaib Malik, who is part of all three formats, might be one of those in the running. Afridi will also now miss the first Twenty20 against England in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month.
Afridi, leading Pakistan for the second time in an ODI, in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, was caught on TV cameras apparently biting the ball on a couple of occasions. The incident was reported to the on-field umpires by the TV umpire and after a chat with Afridi, the umpires changed the ball immediately.
Afridi was called into a hearing with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle immediately after the match. Afridi was charged with an article 2.2.9 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct that relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of Law 42.3 of the Laws of Cricket”.
Ball-tampering normally results from fingernails being run down the seam, but Afridi, for reasons only he could explain, seemed intent on putting the entire ball in his mouth.
“We’ve seen a few replays of it — I don’t know what to say,” Ponting said of Afridi’s incident. “I’ve never seen that before. I’m sure that will be dealt with. I really don’t know what to say about it.”
“It’s unacceptable,” Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, said. “It shouldn’t have happened but it happened and I feel sorry for him. Being a captain you should be above everything but unfortunately it’s happened.”
The punishment puts Pakistan into a quandary because Afridi is their Twenty20 captain and they end their tour of Australia with a Twenty20 in Melbourne on February 5. Yousuf, who captained Pakistan in Tests and ODIs, is not part of the Twenty20 squad and Younus Khan, who was captain before the tour of New Zealand, has retired from the format. Shoaib Malik, who is part of all three formats, might be one of those in the running. Afridi will also now miss the first Twenty20 against England in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month.
No comments:
Post a Comment