ICC Hands Demerit Point to Hashmatullah Shahidi for Damaging Pitch in India ODI

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi had a special moment after scoring his first ODI century against India in Chennai. His innings came in his usual calm and steady style and helped Afghanistan stay competitive in the final ODI of the series.

However, despite reaching the milestone, Shahidi later made a mistake on the field that got him into trouble with the ICC. The ICC has officially reprimanded Shahidi and handed him one demerit point for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the third ODI against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The Afghanistan skipper was found guilty of repeatedly running on the protected area of the pitch while batting, an offence that resulted in a five-run penalty for his team as well.

Shahidi was charged under Article 2.10.10 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which relates to a batter deliberately or carelessly damaging the pitch. The offence covers actions that cause avoidable damage to the playing surface during a match. The left-hander was initially warned twice by the on-field umpires for running through the danger area. After continuing to commit the same offence, he received an official warning in the 31st over of Afghanistan’s innings. However, the warnings failed to have the desired effect.

In the 40th over, Shahidi again ran through the protected area of the pitch while taking a run. Since he had already been warned earlier in the innings, the umpires penalized Afghanistan and awarded India five penalty runs. This incident ultimately led to disciplinary action against the Afghanistan captain. As a result, India began their chase with five runs already on the scoreboard. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Chris Gaffaney and Rohan Pandit, along with third umpire Richard Illingworth and fourth umpire Virender Sharma.