The West Indies youngster Nicholas Pooran has been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for trying to change the condition of the ball during the third ODI against Afghanistan. Pooran was caught on camera trying to tamper the ball.
The on-field umpires complained about Pooran’s act to the match referee and Pooran straightaway admitted his mistake saying that it was an “error in judgement” on this part.
“I recognize that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated.” Pooran said.
The footage showed that Pooran was trying to shine the ball by rubbing it on his trousers, but while doing that, he was also scratching it with his nails which is strictly prohibited under the guidelines of ICC.
It’s the first time after the infamous ball tampering scandal during the Australia vs South Africa test series 2018 that a prominent player from a test playing nation has been caught indulged in ball tampering.
The players involved in ball tampering in the Australia vs South Africa series were actually banned for 1 year, but that ban was imposed on them by their domestic board, not by the ICC.
Pooran, in comparison to that, has received a much lighter punishment as he has only been banned for 4 T20 internationals.
A ball tampering offense for the first time by a player equates to a ban for 2 test matches or 4 ODIs or 4 T20Is. Since, West Indies have to play T20Is after the ODI series against Bangladesh, Pooran has been banned from the T20Is.
The southpaw will not only miss the entire T20I series against Afghanistan, he will also miss the first match of the T20I series against India.
