India’s left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan avoided a lengthy suspension for his deliberate attempt to claim a hit-wicket against New Zealand skipper Tom Latham in the opening ODI in Hyderabad. According to a report in stuff.co.nz on Monday, Kishan could be charged with a Level 3 offense of attempting to gain unfair advantage under the ICC’s Code of Conduct, which could result in missing four to twelve ODIs or Twenty20 internationals. Matches are suspended. ,
Ishan Kishan___ pic.twitter.com/IEX6fMwrq9– IAS Govind Sir (Ex CA) (@Gowind_sir) January 21, 2023
Latham, who was batting for the first time in the game, went deep into his crease and tapped left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav through the leg side for the fourth ball of the 16th over. Captain Rohit Sharma and Kishan both suddenly got up to appeal. The square peg umpire quickly gave the decision while being largely unsure of what had actually happened.
Kishan and the Indian team appealed for Latham’s dismissal, indicating that the batsman had disturbed the bails by placing his foot on his stumps. But replays checked by TV umpire Ananthapadmanabhan showed that Kishan deliberately knocked Bell off his gloves – in his second attempt – long after Latham had hit the ball. It took him little time to declare Latham “not out” on the big screen.
The report added that Kishan spoke to match referee Javagal Srinath about the incident after the game, who also spoke to Indian captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid.
However, it is understood that Srinath took no further action – probably because neither umpire Anil Chowdhary nor Nitin Menon officially informed Kishan about the incident. Also spoke to Caps head coach Luke Ronchi and team management. The traveling side are happy not to pursue the matter further.”
In the ICC Code of Conduct, Article 2.15 ‘Attempting to obtain an unfair advantage during an international match’ includes “a deliberate attempt to deceive an umpire”. It also added: “In assessing the seriousness of the infringement, consideration should be given to whether the conduct was willful, reckless and/or negligent on the part of the player concerned.”
Following the incident, on-air commentators Sunil Gavaskar and Murali Karthik were not impressed with Kishan’s antics, even as the wicketkeeper-batsman laughed. Former India left-arm spinner Karthik said, “Smiling is fine, but don’t think it was the right thing to do.” India’s legendary batsman Gavaskar also said in the same way.
“As a joke, it was fine, but then to appeal, don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Say maybe as a joke, suggest to Tom Latham that when India were batting first, What happened is understandable. But to appeal, that is not on. That is not cricket.
The incident Gavaskar referred to, in which Latham was also involved, took place in the 40th over of India’s innings when all-rounder Hardik Pandya was dismissed under strange circumstances. Hardik tried to cut the Daryl Mitchell delivery through third man, but his off-stump bail was dislodged as the ball went too close to the stumps and the on-field umpires referred the call to Ananthpadmanabhan.
Replays showed Latham standing up to the stumps and his gloves too close to the bails, which appeared to light up just after the ball went over the stumps and was cleanly collected by the keeper, as Hardik was eventually dismissed. 28 for 38 balls.
After winning the first ODI by 12 runs in Hyderabad, India won the second match of the series by eight wickets in Raipur. With an unassailable 2-0 lead, India will now aim for a 3-0 clean sweep in the final match to be held in Indore on Tuesday.