Pakistan’s aggressive batter Hasan Ali and Afghanistan’s pacer Fareed Ahmad have been punished for breaching Level 1 of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct during the Asia Cup clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday.
The ICC, in a statement issued in this regard, said that the pair have been fined 25% of their match fees for an altercation which occurred after the fifth delivery of the 19th over.
“Asif breached Article 2.6 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to ‘using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an International Match’ while Fareed was found to have breached Article 2.1.12, which relates to ‘inappropriate physical contact with a player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee or any other person (including a spectator) during an International Match’,” the statement read.
The players admitted their offence and accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft.
It was a tense moment during the match when the incident between the pair took place, with the contest on a knife’s edge. Ali was going all guns blazing at 16 runs off 8 deliveries, threatening to take the match away from Afghanistan.
Ahmad then bowled a slower bouncer that deceived Ali, with Karim Janat taking the catch at short fine leg. The incident then took place when Ahmad was celebrating the wicket while Ali was walking off to the pavilion.
Pakistan eventually ended up winning the contest, with Naseem Shah emerging as the unlikely hero with the bat. Needing 11 off the final over and with only one wicket in hand, Naseem hit two massive sixes off the first two deliveries against Fazhalhaq Farooqi as Pakistan won the match with four deliveries remaining.
The result meant that Pakistan and Sri Lanka qualified for the final of the Asia Cup, with India and Afghanistan getting knocked out of the Super Four stage.
