The International Cricket Council (ICC) has sanctioned the Indian team players for maintaining a slow over-rate in the second of the three-ODI series against South Africa in Raipur, levying a fine worth 10 per cent of their match fee. Stand-in captain KL Rahul-led side fell two overs short of the target.
Richie Richardson of the ICC’s Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction. Rahul pled guilty to the offense and accepted the punishment.
“India was charged in accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences. The players are fined five per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time if sanctioned,” the world
body said in a statement.
India lost that match by four wickets in the last over, with South Africa levelling the series with a composed finish in a high-scoring contest.
India’s 358-run total was built on Virat Kohli’s 53rd ODI century, Ruturaj Gaikwad’s maiden hundred, and a brisk unbeaten 66 from KL Rahul, as the hosts posted 358 for five. But heavy dew and inconsistent bowling undermined India’s defence.
Aiden Markram led South Africa’s response with a superb 110, adding a 101-run stand with returning skipper Temba Bavuma before Dewald Brevis’s explosive 54 and Matthew Breetzke’s measured 68 pushed the visitors into control.
India’s over-rate was likely not helped by the dewy conditions in the match, which prompted the bowlers to wipe the ball to help it grip regularly. They struck late through Prasidh Krishna and Arshdeep Singh, yet Corbin Bosch and Keshav Maharaj held firm to guide the chase home.
The win marked only the second time India lost an ODI after scoring more than 350 runs.
However, Rahul’s men gave a befitting reply in the series decider in Vizag. Four-wicket hauls from Kuldeep Yadav and Prasidh Krishna kept the visitors down to only 270 before a century from Yashasvi Jaiswal and fifties from Rohit Sharma and Kohli helped them chase it with more than ten overs to spare.
