West Indies fined for slow rate in T20I against India

What’s the story?

While West Indies walked away from the lone T20I against India as outright winners, comprehensively beating the visitors by nine wickets on Sunday thanks to a splendid century by Evin Lewis. The hosts' victory came at a price, however, with the players being fined for a slow over-rate.

Skipper Carlos Brathwaite had to hand over 20 percent of his match fee while the rest of the Windies players were slapped with a 10 percent fine.

The fines were imposed in accordance with Article 2.5.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which deals with minor offences relating to not completing the scheduled overs in time.

In case you didn’t know....

While India won the five-match ODI series against West Indies 3-1, with a match being washed out, the Virat Kohli-led side came up short against the hosts who had their big guns like Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, and Kieron Pollard, back in the side after being left out for the 50-over format.

Batting first, India seemed to put up a good total on the board with cameos from Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik propelling the Men in Blue to a total of 190 in their 20 overs. However, the hosts chased down the target with nine balls to spare as Lewis remained unbeaten on 125 from just 62 balls.

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The details

India got off to a splendid start with skipper Virat Kohli taking the attack to the opposition after opening the batting along with Shikhar Dhawan. The aggressive batting from the openers prompted West Indies to change their field at regular intervals in an effort to curb the run flow.

The double blow in the sixth over of India's innings, which saw both openers heading back to the pavilion, did stop the momentum but Dinesh Karthik ensured that the team maintained a healthy run rate even as Rishabh Pant was having trouble to get going at the other end.

Despite half of the tally of 20 overs coming from the spinners – 4 from Samuel Badree and 3 each from Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels – skipper Carlos Braithwaite failed to complete the overs in the stipulated time.

The charges levied by on-field umpires Nigel Duguid and Leslie Reifer, third umpire Joe Wilson and fourth umpire Patrick Gustard were approved by ICC Match Referee panel David Boon.

The fine was sanctioned after he found the West Indies short by one over even after time allowances such as the injury time-out after Jerome Taylor’s short-pitched delivery had struck Rishabh Pant were taken into consideration.

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What's next?

While the West Indies players were let off with a fine this time around, skipper Carlos Braithwaite will face a one-match suspension from the shortest format of the game should a similar offence be committed within the next 12 months.

Author’s take

T20 cricket is meant to be fast and exciting cricket with little time to waste, but unfortunately, on Sunday, the West Indies were a little bit casual in finishing off their overs on time. Gamesmanship may have been a factor especially after the quick-fire start by India, but the match officials have done well by taking the appropriate action against the skipper and his teammates.