Players from the Indian and West Indies cricket teams have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during their first Twenty20 International (T20I) match in Trinidad and Tobago on August 3. The Indian team was fined five percent of their match fees for falling one over short of the required over rate, while the West Indies team was fined 10 percent for falling two overs short.
The fine was imposed by Match Referee Richie Richardson, a member of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel, in accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. This article specifies that players are fined five percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, up to a maximum of 50 percent of the match fee.
Indian player Hardik Pandya’s team and West Indies player Rovman Powell’s team were found to be one and two overs short, respectively, of the target set for them. Both players accepted their mistakes and pleaded guilty, leading to no formal hearing being conducted.
The first T20I match between India and West Indies ended with a four-run victory for the home team at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad. After winning the toss, West Indies chose to bat first and managed to score 149/6, thanks to a top-scored knock of 48 off 32 balls by Rovman Powell and a contribution of 41 runs from 34 balls by wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran.
In response, India failed to chase down the target, despite a gutsy debut knock of 39 runs off 22 balls by Tilak Varma. West Indies’ bowler Jason Holder stood out with figures of 2/19 and was named the Player of the Match.
The second T20I between India and West Indies will take place on August 6 at the Providence Stadium in Guyana.
