In the third game of the ICC Women’s Championship series against Bangladesh on Saturday in Dhaka, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur violated the ICC Code of Conduct twice. As a result, she has been suspended from her team’s upcoming two international contests.
After being found guilty of violating Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel—which deals with “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision”—Kaur was fined 50% of her match fee and had three demerit points added to her record for a Level 2 offense.
In addition, Kaur received a Level 1 penalty of 25% of her match fee for violating Article 2.7, which deals with “public criticism in relation to an incident occurring in an international match.”
When Kaur was ruled to have been caught at slip-off spinner Nahida Akter in the 34th over of India’s innings, she protested by striking the wickets with her bat. The second incident involved Kaur criticizing the match’s umpiring during the presentation ceremony.
Since Kaur acknowledged the infractions and agreed to the sanctions proposed by Akhtar Ahmed of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Referees, there was no need for a formal hearing.
The accusations were made by the on-field umpires Tanvir Ahmed and Muhammad Kamruzzaman, the third umpire Moniruzzamman, and the fourth umpire Ali Arman.
Level 1 violations are subject to a minimum punishment of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50% of the player’s match fee, and a maximum of one or two demerit points, while Level 2 violations are subject to a penalty of between 50% and 100% of the player’s match fee and three or four demerit points.
Two suspension points are equal to Kaur’s four demerit points. Kaur is suspended from India’s upcoming games since two suspension points are equal to a suspension from one Test, two ODIs, or two T20Is, whichever comes first for the player or player support personnel.
