After a superb performance in the second test against Sri Lanka, Ravindra Jadeja would have been forgiven for thinking that his recent slump was behind him. While that is true in cricketing terms, his bad luck continued thanks to a ban that the ICC imposed on the player for dangerous play in the aforementioned game.
Ravindra Jadeja was involved in an incident where he hurled the ball back at the Sri Lankan batsman Puspakumara after it had been hit to him. The ICC panel found him guilty of inciting dangerous play as the batsman could have been injured had the ball hit him. They deducted three disciplinary points that led to an automatic suspension for the player.
Jadeja’s response:
While Ravindra Jadeja pleaded guilty to the charge, bypassing the formal hearing, the incident did make him display his thoughts on Twitter. Jadeja tweeted, “Hum sharif kya hue puri duniya hi badmash ho gayi.” The tweet roughly translates to, “Just when I was becoming innocent, the whole world has gone notorious.”
Jadeja will be forced to watch the game from the sidelines as he misses on the third test where India will look to complete the whitewash series win and focus on the other games ahead of a longer schedule leading up to winter.
The code that was broken:
Ravindra Jadeja was specifically found guilty of breaching article 2.2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support person that says, ““throwing a ball (or any other item of cricket equipment such as a water bottle) at or near a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other third person in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an International Match”.
India do have back-ups in the form of Kuldeep Yadav and could play an extra pacer if needed. They also won their 8th series in a row under Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
