BCCI reprimands Tim Southee for committing Level 1 offence

The high-octane match between RCB and SRH went till the very last over that ended with the hosts winning the thrilling encounter by 14 runs. After RCB posted a mammoth total of 218 batting first, SRH game dangerously close as they could manage 204 runs in the end. Over 400 runs were scored in 40 overs as the game saw boundaries raining throughout, along with some mind-boggling fielding moments as well. And although BCCI hasn’t highlighted the incident that led to Southee breaching the IPL Code of Conduct under Article 2.1.8, his postmatch comments concerning Alex Hales’ catch is suspected to be the one.

The incident occurred in the third over of the second innings when Hales’ flat pull off Umesh Yadav’s delivery was seemingly caught clean by Southee. However, after the soft signal was given out, third umpire Chettithody Shamsuddin decided against it, which created confusion. A shocked Virat Kohli was even seen discussing it with the umpire but Hales was asked to carry on.

When asked about the catch to Southee after the game, the Kiwi had said, “I thought that catch was taken cleanly, it looks a lot worse on TV but it’s the third umpire’s decision and in the end, we won the game which was more important.” 

This is one of the many Level 1 offence committed in IPL this season with Kolkata Knight Riders’ Shivam Mavi, Delhi Daredevils’ Avesh Khan, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Siddarth Kaul – all reprimanded by BCCI for breaching the conduct. The match referee’s decision is considered final in these cases. While the fine is 50% of the applicable match fee on the first instance if repeated, the fine could go on to between 50-100% of the applicable match fee and/or a suspension of up to two matches.