New Delhi:
In an ODI match, a team is expected to take close to three hours and 30 minutes to bowl their full quota of 50 overs. However, the West Indies cricket team took four hours and 11 minutes to bowl their quota of overs. This meant that per hour, they could manage only 12 overs and this has led to a massive sanction from the ICC following the end of the Chennai ODI that saw centuries from Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope give West Indies an eight-wicket win and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
West Indies players were docked 80 per cent of their match fees for maintaining a slow over-rate. ICC match referee David Boon imposed the fine after Kieron Pollard's side was ruled to be four overs short of its target on Sunday after time allowances were taken into consideration. "In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time. As such, the team have each been fined 80 percent of their match fee," the ICC said in a statement.
There was no need for a formal hearing as West Indies skipper Pollard pleaded guilty to the offence after the end of the match and accepted the proposed sanction. On-field umpires Nitin Menon and Shaun George, third umpire Rodney Tucker and fourth umpire Anil Chaudhary leveled the charge. Hetmyer and Hope were the two batsmen who had made a mark in the previous series in India.
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Hetmyer pulled off a dazzling display of power hitting while Hope made every effort to carry the team over the finish line. Both batsmen were once again their elements in the Chennai ODI. Hetmyer's power-hitting resulted in his fifth ton, Hope had a strike rate of just over 60 but hit his eighth century as well. They were also aided by dropped catches by Rohit Sharma and crucially Shreyas Iyer as their 218-run stand helped West Indies storm home with 13 balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram stadium on Sunday.
