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India women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur is likely to face a hefty penalty from the ICC for her outburst during the third and final ODI against Bangladesh women in Dhaka, which ended in a historic tie. Harmanpreet, who was unhappy with the umpiring throughout the match, called the standard of umpiring "pathetic" at the post-match presentation and could be handed a total of four demerit points.
According to ESPNcricinfo, match referee Akhtar Ahmad recommended three demerit points for equipment damage and one demerit point for criticizing the match officials in public along with a 75% match fee fine. The final decision will be taken by the ICC and It is understood that the BCCI has been talking to the ICC on the matter.
According to ICC regulations, if a player accumulates four or more demerit points in a 24-month period, they are turned into suspension points. Anything between four and seven demerit points amounts to two suspension points, which translates to a ban from one Test, two ODIs, or two T20Is, whichever comes first in the player's calendar. For Kaur, she is likely to miss the first two games of the South Africa home series.
Harmanpreet will be the first woman cricketer to be found guilty of a level-two breach of the ICC's code of conduct, which covers player behavior. The last time she got a demerit point was during the semi-final of the Women's World Cup 2017 against Australia when she flung her helmet onto the ground and fired verbal volleys at her partner Deepti Sharma after completing her century.
"The kind of umpiring that was happening we were very surprised," Harmanpreet said after the match. "The next time we come to Bangladesh we will make sure we have to deal with this type of umpiring and prepare ourselves accordingly. Some pathetic umpiring was done we are really disappointed about some decisions that were given by the umpires."
Harmanpreet was one of several Indian batters who were dissatisfied with their lbw dismissals in the deciding ODI against Bangladesh, which did not have the Decision Review System (DRS) or neutral umpires available. She was adjudged lbw by umpire Tanvir Ahmed after missing a sweep shot off left-arm spinner Nahida Akter, despite appearing to have an inside edge and hit the stumps in anger also having a heated exchange with Ahmed while walking back.
