Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi punished by ICC for throwing the ball towards Bangladesh’s Afif Hossain

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has fined Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for intentionally throwing the cricket ball to the feet of Bangladesh batsman Afif Hossain. 15 percent of Afridi’s match fee has been deducted. He has also been fined with a demerit point.

The incident took place in the third over of the second match of the Bangladesh-Pakistan T20I series. In Afridi’s second ball of that over, Afif hit a huge six in a spectacular shot with a backward square leg. Then in the next ball, Afif played follow-through. The batsman of Bangladesh did not show any desire to take any run with that ball. But Shaheen Afridi picked up the ball and threw it at Afif’s feet.

Shaheen Shah Afridi has violated Section 2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Players Support Personne by committing this  offence. The code of conduct states that if a player intentionally throws a ball or any other cricket equipment at another player, umpire, match referee, any support staff, or any other 3rd person in a dangerous and/or an inappropriate way during an International Match, will be considered as breaching the rule.

On-field umpires Sohail Tanveer and Gazi Sohel, third umpire Masudur Rahman and fourth umpire Sharfudoulla Ibne Shahid brought charges against Shaheen Shah Afridi. As Afridi pleaded guilty, no formal hearing was required under the ICC’s Covid-19 policy.

Shaheen Shah Afridi’s actions have been taken as breaching level-1 of the Code of Conduct . That’s why a demerit point is handed with a 15 percent penalty on the match fee.

This is Afridi’s first offense in the last 24 months. If a cricketer receives four or more demerit points within a specified time, they will be converted to suspension points, as a result, the cricketer will be banned. There is provision for two suspension points to be dropped from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is.

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