West Indies coach Stuart Law suspended for the first two ODIs against India

West Indies coach Stuart Law has been suspended for the first two ODIs between India and West Indies as he got three demerit points and was fined 100% of his match fees for passing inappropriate comments towards the TV umpire and the fourth official after the dismissal of a West Indies batsman in the recently concluded second Test match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Law was disappointed with the third umpire's decision that led to the dismissal of opener Kieran Powell for a nine-ball duck in the second innings. Powell nicked a delivery off the bowling of R Ashwin and the ball went towards Ajinkya Rahane, who managed to catch the ball and claim the catch at first slip. Powell stood his ground and the on-field umpires went upstairs with the soft signal OUT.

The third umpire took a lot of time to make his decision and since there was no conclusive evidence that the ball had taken a bump or that Rahane didn't get his palms underneath the ball, the soft signal played a crucial role in his decision as he signalled out. The former Aussie international, who has already submitted his resignation as the Windies coach as he will be moving to Middlesex in December, has said to have reacted to that by going to the TV umpire's room and then the fourth umpire's area and made inappropriate comments to them. Law admitted to the offence and accepted the sanctions.

Coming into the series, Law had previously received one demerit point and was fined 25% percent of his match fee in May 2017 for a similar incident during the Dominica Test against Pakistan, and hence has now been given a two-match suspension owing to the accumulation of four demerit points. The first and second ODI between India and West Indies will be taking place in Guwahati and Visakhapatnam on October 21 and 24 respectively.