Indian cricket team fined for slow over rate in last T20I against Australia

The Indian cricket team has been fined 20% of their match fee for their slow over-rate in the last T20 international. The Indian cricket team succumbed to a 12-run loss in the final game at the Sydney Cricket Ground as the Australian team managed to avoid a whitewash.

Virat Kohli and the Indian cricket team were judged to be one over short of the target, even after considering time allowances. Match Referee David Boon imposed those sanctions on the Indian cricket team. The charges were leveled by on-field umpires Rod Tucker, Gerard Abood, TV umpire Paul Wilson, and fourth umpire Sam Nogajsk.

Virat Kohli accepted the sanction as he pleaded guilty. According to Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, players are fined 20% of their match fee for every over their team fails to bowl in an allotted time.

As per new ICC rules, slow over rates do not result in team captains earning demerit points, as they used to earlier.

The Indian cricket team won the three-match T20I series against their Australian counterparts by a margin of two wins to one. They had earlier lost the ODI series by the same margin. The two teams will now play a four-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

Team India won the T20I series 2-1

Slow over rate: A problem in modern-day cricket

With the games going down to the wire, usage of DRS, and the fielding side constantly tinkering with their field arrangement, slow over rates have become a common problem in modern-day cricket. It remains to be seen if the ICC will take any steps to curb the consistent issue of teams not bowling their overs in the allotted time.

One of the early selling points of T20's was that they finish within three hours. However, most games today take much longer. Some experts feel that ICC should impose harsh rules — like docking runs for the offending team, or reducing overs when a team goes in to chase — to curb this problem.