Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur received a two-match ban after being found guilty of a Level 2 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct on Tuesday, July 25. The star batter lost her temper during the third ODI against Bangladesh at Mirpur's Shere Bangla National Stadium and hit stumps with a bat and then criticized umpires.
Harmanpreet was found guilty of breaching article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players for showing dissent at the umpire's decision and slammed with a 50% of match fee and three demerit points to her disciplinary record.
She was additionally fined 25% of the match fee for publicly criticizing umpires. Harmanpreet accepted offenses and the sanction proposed but Akhtar Ahmed of the ICC International Panel of Match Referees, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
This is the first time any female cricketer is found guilty of a Level 2 breach which carries a penalty of 50-100% match fee and there to four demerit points for the next two years. Four demerit points mean a player will miss his or her next Test match or two white-ball international games.
Harmanpreet Kaur to miss Asian Games 2023?
The veteran batter scored a match-winning fifty against Bangladesh in the second ODI and was given out on a controversial decision by an umpire in the third game. This was India women team's first bilateral series since the conclusion of the Women's Premier League 2023 in March.
The Women in Blue will next play an international fixture during Asian Games 2023 which will kick off on September 20 in China's Hangzhou. India will directly enter the quarter-final round as they rank top four of the ICC ODI Women's team standing.
Harmanpreet will miss the first two matches, a quarter-final game and a potential semi-final fixture. So, she will feature in the tournament only if India women's team reach the final. So, it will be interesting to see if BCCI takes a hard decision to leave their captain home for the multi-sport tournament.
Indian Women’s Cricket Team for Asian Games: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarwani, Titus Sadhu, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Anusha Bareddy
Standby Players: Harleen Deol, Kashvi Gautam, Sneh Rana, Saika Ishaq, Pooja Vastrakar
