Sri Lanka fast bowler Lahiru Kumara and Bangladesh batter Liton Das have been fined for breaching ICC’s code of conduct with their physical altercation during the Super 12 encounter of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on Sunday (October 24) in Sharjah.
The ugly incident took place during the fifth over when the Bangladesh batter Liton Das was trying to drive the full delivery from Kumara but ended up lobbing the ball into Shanaka's hands at mid-off.
After the wicket, Liton was walking off to the pavilion, but Kumara walked up to him and exchanged a few words that clearly weren't liked by the Bangladesh opener and he responded back to the bowler.
Well, the things then turned worse, as Liton and Kumara were involved in a heated exchange of words and even tried getting physical with each other on the field with the umpire and the other players from both teams forced to intervene and separate the two players on Sunday in Sharjah.
Following the incident, Kumara and Das were fined 25 percent and 15 percent of their match fees respectively for breaching ICC’s code of conduct. They also received one demerit point as well and pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions.
The ICC said in a statement, “Sri Lankan bowler Lahiru Kumara and Bangladeshi batter Liton Das Kumar were both fined for breaching level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. Kumara was fined 25% of his match fee and received 1 demerit point. Das was fined 15% of his match fee and received 1 demerit point.”
The ICC added, “Kumara was found guilty of breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “Using language, actions or gestures which disparage, or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an International Match”. Das was found guilty of breaching Article 2.20 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game.”
Noteworthy, the charges were leveled by on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Adrian Holdstock, as well as, the third umpire Michael Gough and fourth umpire Rod Tucker against Das and Kumara.
The match referee Javagal Srinath imposed the sanctions, which were ratified by the ICC cricket operations department as per the COVID-19 interim playing regulations.
(With PTI Inputs)
