Bangladesh's left-arm pacer Maruf Mridha has been reprimanded after being found guilty of breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel during the third match of the ongoing U19 Men's Cricket World Cup against India at Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein.
Article 2.5 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.”
Maruf's offence has added one demerit point to his disciplinary record - his first offence in a 24-month period.
The sanction was levelled by the two on-field umpires Nigel Duguid and Donovan Koch, third umpire Allahudien Paleker and fourth umpire Langton Rusere. It was proposed by the Match Referee Shaid Wadvalla.
It all unfolded during the 44th over of India's innings when Mridha dismissed India's wicketkeeper-batter Aravelly Avanish Rao.
In an attempt to find a boundary, Rao tried to go big on the offside but only managed to find the deep extra-cover fielder. Mridha was pumped by the dismissal and gave a fiery send-off to the India batter twice.
Mridha pointed to the Indian dressing room twice in an aggressive manner and copped the brunt of it.
The left-arm speedster admitted to the offence and hence there was no formal hearing conducted by the match officials.
The match between the five-time U19 Men's Cricket World Cup winners, India, and the U19 World Cup 2020 champions, Bangladesh, turned out to be a heated clash.
The fiercely competitive fixture saw India defeat the Bangla Tigers by a margin of 84 runs as the latter folded for 167 in pursuit of 252.
India's opener Adarsh Singh was awarded the Player of the Match (POTM) honour for his remarkable knock of 76 off 96 balls. The southpaw smashed six fours during the course of his knock.
