The ICC on Wednesday (November 13) suspended West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran for four games after he was found guilty of intending to change the condition of the ball during the third ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow. 

Pooran was charged with violating Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to "changing the condition of the ball" after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail. 

WATCH- Nicholas Pooran’s dubious act with the ball during the 3rd ODI

The 24-year-old admitted to the charge and will now miss the next four T20I games for the West Indies, besides ICC adding five demerit points to his record. 

There was no need for an official hearing on the matter as Pooran accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad. 

"I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow," he was quoted as saying in an ICC media release. 

"I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty."

"I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser," Pooran added.

The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani and third umpire Ahmed Pakteen as well as fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.

A breach of level 3 carries a minimum penalty of four suspension points, culminating into five demerit points on a player’s record and a ban of two Test matches or four ODI / T20I matches apart from a maximum penalty of 12 suspension points which equates to 6 demerit points.

(Inputs from ICC)