India fined 20% of match fee for slow over-rate in 5th T20I against New Zealand

India have been fined 20 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate against New Zealand in the fifth and final Twenty20 International in Tauranga on Sunday. Chris Broad of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Rohit Sharma’s side was ruled to be one over short of the target 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 per cent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

Sharma pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing. On-field umpires Chris Brown and Shaun Haig, and third umpire Ashley Mehrotra levelled the charge.

India defend 163 in a close game

As far as the match is concerned, the visitors posted 163 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets after 20 overs thanks to a half-century from their skipper Rohit Sharma who was retired hurt while batting. At the half-way stage, the score didn’t look enough. But India started well with the ball picking three wickets conceding just 17 overs in less than four overs.

However, Tim Seifert and Ross Taylor stitched an excellent partnership then and Shivam Dube’s 34-run over rather made them the favourites to win the game. The equation had come down to 66 runs off last 10 overs. But the Kiwis once again gave away the winning the position losing wickets in a heap under pressure. The Indian bowlers did a great job and despite half-centuries from Seifert and Taylor, the required run-rate crept up.

Both the batsmen got out at the wrong time which increased the pressure on the lower middle-order which collapsed. Eventually, New Zealand fell seven runs short of the target to go down 0-5 in the series. Ish Sodhi smacked a few good hits to make things interesting but 21 runs in the last over were a little too much to get for him.