Indiscipline turns major headache for IPL
Indiscipline has become an integral part of the ongoing Indian Premier League Twenty20 matches. Within a few days of the tournament, more than six players and officials have been punished for their bad behavior on the field.
Latest in this list is Kolkata Knight Riders pace bowler Ishant Sharma. He has been fined 10 percent of match fee on Sunday for kicking down stumps during the Indian Premier League match against Punjab King’s XI at Mohali. IPL match referee Clive Lloyd found that Ishant was guilty of a Level 1 offence (clause 2) as per the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct which has been adopted by the Twenty20 League authorities. This is related to abusing the ground equipment.
Earlier, Indian off spinner and Mumbai India’s former captain Harbhajan Singh had been banned for nine matches for slapping King’s XI bowler S Sreesanth. This had occurred at the same venue. The Harbhajan – Sreesanth slapping row had catched up the attention of global media. The match referee had also warned Sreesanth for his hostile attitude on the field.
Harbhajan, allegedly slapped Sreesanth soon after Mumbai India’s defeat against Punjab King’s XI, leaving the young paceman seeing weep inconsolably in full view of television cameras. Harbhajan had later apologised to Sreesanth. But match referee Farokh Engineer had taken up the issue seriously after the Punjab team management lodged a formal complaint against Harbhajan to tournament officials. The BCCI had also appointed lawyer Sudhir Nanavati to probe the charges against Harbhajan, who is on its payroll as a centrally contracted player.
The IPL authorities had also fined 10 percent of match fee on captain of Rajasthan Royals Shane Warne and skipper of Knight Riders Sourav Ganguly for different breaches of the Code at Jaipur on May 1 during the two teams’ contest. The Match Referee in his recommendation to the IPL said that Ganguly’s act of prevailing upon Pratap Kumar, the on-field umpire, to refer a decision to the TV umpire, constituted a Level I offence as per the ICC’s Code of Conduct. Warne was found of violating Section 1.7 of the ICC’s Code of Conduct, which deals with ‘public criticism of, or inappropriate comment on a match-related incident or official,’ which constitutes a Level I offence.