Indian team manager fined for commenting on umpire Vineet Kulkarni

Indian team manager fined for commenting on umpire Vineet Kulkarni: Indian cricket team manager Vinod Phadke has been fined 40 per cent of his match fee after he was found guilty of making inappropriate comments about umpire Vineet Kulkarni ahead of the Indore One-Day International.

Mr. Phadke was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an International Match or any Player, Player Support Personnel, Match official or team The ongoing India vs South Africa series has hit another headline for the wrong reason, as India team participating in any International Match”

Vineet Kulkarni has been in news for all the wrong reasons, since the 1st T20I between India and South Africa.

After the 1st Twenty20 international against South Africa, in Dharmasala, captain MS Dhoni had brought up the umpiring issue at the post-match presentation. “We did not have quite a few decisions going our way and sometimes these can change the match,” Dhoni said. “It could have been different if we could have got Duminy out early.”

He referred to the LBW appeal against Duminy which was turned down. That decision played an important role, as South Africa went on to chase 200, with Duminy leading from the front.

During the Kanpur ODI Shikhar Dhawan was given out LBW to Morne Morkel when it seemed the ball was headed down the leg side from round the wicket. India lost the match by 5 runs and the Umpire’s decision came under the scanner.

Mr. Phadke pleaded not guilty to the charge and, as such, Mr. Chris Broad of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees conducted a formal hearing after the match.

The range of permissible sanctions for all first Level 1 offences is a warning or reprimand and/or the imposition of a fine of up to 50 per cent of the applicable match fee.