AFG vs WI | Nicholas Pooran handed four-T20I ban for ball tampering

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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As West Indies clean swept the ODI series against Afghanistan, youngster Nicholas Pooran has landed himself into trouble after being suspended by the ICC for four T20Is in a ball-tampering case. Pooran has accepted the charge and has apologized and assured that the mistake won't be repeated.

The recently concluded three-match ODI series against Afghanistan was a historic one for West Indies. The 3-0 whitewash is the first ODI series win for the Carribean side in five years but amongst all the celebrations and joy youngster Nicholas Pooran has landed himself into trouble.

The Windies keeper-batsman has been found guilty of attempting to tamper the ball, during the final ODI of the series on Monday (November 11), and has been handed a ban for four T20Is by the International Council for Cricket. The punishment is coupled with five demerit points for Pooran. The penalty by the global ensured that he is ruled out of the T20I series against the Afghans.

Pooran has been charged with a breach of level 3 of the ICC's Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad. He had violated Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to "changing the condition of the ball" after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani and third umpire Ahmed Pakteen as well as fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.

Pooran called it “an extreme error in judgement” as he promised that he will come back wiser and avoid such mistakes in the future.

"I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow," ESPNCricinfo quoted Pooran. "I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser."

Pooran had a great series with the bat as he piled up 96 runs in three encounters with an average of 48 while he also bagged the man of the match award in the second ODI for his quickfire 67. Denesh Ramdin who was named in the T20 squad as a backup keeper will now take his place in the playing XI for the three-match series. The earliest Pooran will be available to play for West Indies is the second T20I against India, on December 8 in Thiruvananthapuram.

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