Star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was on Thursday fined 25 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL code of conduct during Rajasthan Royals` thrilling win over Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. He was fined for breaching Article 2.7 of the IPL`s code of conduct during the match which the Royals won by three runs.
“Ashwin admitted to the Level 1 Offence under Article 2.7 of the IPL`s Code of Conduct. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee`s decision is final and binding,” a statement from the IPL said.
However, the statement did not mention the nature of the offence but Article 2.7 of code of conduct for players and team officials relates to “public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in a match or any player, team official, match official or team participating in any match, irrespective of when such criticism or inappropriate comment is made”.
At the post-match press conference, Ashwin had said that he was left appalled by the umpires` decision to change the ball on their own because of the dew at Chepauk on Wednesday, and had called for consistency while taking such decisions. The heavy dew at the MA Chidambaram Stadium forced the umpires to intervene and change the ball during CSK`s run chase, leaving Ashwin, who returned figures of 2/25, “surprised”.
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Ashwin said he had never before seen the umpires changing the ball because of excessive dew. “I`m quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It`s never happened before and I`m quite surprised. Some of the decisions in this year`s IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed to be honest,” said the India stalwart.
“I mean, (it) left me flummoxed in a good or a bad way. It`s because I think what you need is a little bit of balance,” said Ashwin, who was adjudged `Player of the Match`. As a bowling team, we are not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpires` accord. I did ask the umpire and he said we (the umpires) can change it. So I just hope every time there is dew they can change it every single time going forward in this IPL that sort of, you can do whatever you want, but you just need to be in a standard going forward,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
