India vs England: Virat Kohli’s men fined for slow over rate in the 5th T20I

Virat Kohli & men scripted an iconic victory in the five-match T20I series against England as they won the event by 3-2 after a memorable win in the last T20 International at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. However, it is now learned that the team has been fined 40 percent of their match fees for maintaining a slow over-rate in the last game.

Team India is ruled to be two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration and Javagal Srinath of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction on the squad for the same. This is not the first time that something like this has happened with the team. 

During the second T20 International also, the team was fined 20% of their match fees after they were ruled to be one over short of the target while the England side had also faced similar consequences for slow over-rate in the fourth T20 International. 

“In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offenses, players are fined 20 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time,” the ICC said in a statement.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli pleaded guilty to the offense and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing. Meanwhile, on-field umpires including the likes of Anil Chaudhary and Nitin Menon, and third umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan leveled the charge against the host side.

Team India shines in the fifth T20 International

The hosts enjoyed massive success in the last game as they were successful in outplaying the opposition in all the three facts of the game. Put to bat first, India posted a massive total of 224 runs on the board on the back of a sublime knock by skipper Virat Kohli (80 off 52) and vice-captain Rohit Sharma (64 off 34). Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were also at their fluent best as they added 17 runs each to the scoreboard.

In the second innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar emerged as the wrecker-in-chief for the hosts with his economical figures of 4-0-15-2. Shardul Thakur also picked 3 wickets while Pandya and T Natarajan had one each under their belt. Thus, England could manage only 188 runs in 20 overs and India won the match by 36 runs.