Pakistan’s miserable tour of Bangladesh has taken another turn for the worse, with the International Cricket Council handing the squad a substantial double punishment following their defeat in the Dhaka Test. Every member of Shan Masood’s side has been fined 40 per cent of their match fee, and the team has been docked eight World Test Championship points for bowling their overs at an unacceptably slow rate.
The sanctions were determined by match referee Jeff Crowe after Pakistan were found to have bowled eight overs short of the required rate within the allotted time. Under ICC Code of Conduct Article 2.22 and Article 16.11.2 of the WTC Playing Conditions, the prescribed penalty is a five per cent match fee fine and one WTC point deduction for every over by which a team falls short. Eight overs short meant eight points lost and 40 per cent of each player’s match fee forfeited.
The timing could hardly be worse for Pakistan’s World Test Championship ambitions. They have won just one match in the current WTC cycle and lost two, including the Dhaka Test. Before the deduction, they had accumulated 12 points. They now have just four, a collapse in their standings that leaves them in a deeply precarious position in the cycle.
The eight points deducted represent only four fewer than a team earns from a single Test victory, making the punishment particularly damaging in the context of the tight points race that characterises each WTC cycle.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood accepted the charge without contest, meaning no formal hearing was required. The complaint was raised by on-field umpires Richard Kettleborough and Kumar Dharmasena, third umpire Allaudien Palekar and fourth umpire Gazi Sohel, all of whom officiated in the Dhaka Test.
The punishment caps an extremely difficult Bangladesh tour for Pakistan, who had already suffered a historic 104-run defeat in the Dhaka Test as Bangladesh claimed their first ever home Test win over their opponents. Losing both money and crucial WTC points in the aftermath merely adds to the sense of a series that has gone profoundly wrong for Masood’s side.
