Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga has been suspended for his team’s next two matches in the Champions Trophy after being found guilty of a “serious” over-rate offence in his team’s tournament opener \against South Africa at The Oval on Saturday (June 3).
Tharanga was leading the side in the absence of the injured Angelo Mathews. Match referee David Boon found the island nation four overs short at the stipulated time even after making time allowances and consequently imposed the suspension.
According to Article 2.5.2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to serious over-rate offences, players were fined 10 percent of their match fees for the first two overs and 20 percent of their match fees for the additional overs their side failed to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain also receiving two suspension points.
And since two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player, Tharanga has been suspended for his side’s crucial matches against India and Pakistan, while each of the Sri Lankan players who played in the match have been docked 60 percent of the match fee.
“Tharanga pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing,” the ICC said in its press release.
The stand-in skipper, meanwhile, has said that regular captain Angelo Mathews is likely to return to action for the next match against India on June 8.
“Most likely he’s going to play the next game,” Tharanga said in the post-match press conference.“He just missed it. The thing is you can’t take a risk playing the first game. He has another four or five days to get ready for the next game, so maybe he’ll be fit to play then.”
Sri Lanka lost the game against South Africa by 96 runs. Chasing 300, the 2011 World Cup finalists were off to a good start with Niroshan Dickwella and Tharanga adding 69 runs for the first wicket but their innings derailed once the former was dismissed. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and were eventually dismissed for 203 in the 42nd over.