Quetta Gladiators’ spinner Abrar Ahmed and opener Saud Shakeel were fined after their side’s match against Islamabad United at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi on Friday night.
The duo have both been fined five per cent of their match fees for Level 1 breaches of Pakistan Super League (PSL) Code of Conduct.
Abrar breached Article 2.4 of the PSL Code of Conduct, which reads as: “Disobeying an umpire’s instruction during the match”.
“The incident occurred in the 19th over of Islamabad United’s batting, when, while fielding, Abrar rolled the ball all along the ground despite being instructed by the umpires not to do so,” the PCB said in a press release.
“In a separate incident, in the same match, Saud was found to have violated Article 2.5 of the PSL Code of Conduct, which reads as: “Using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during a match.
“After dismissing United’s batter Salman Ali Agha in the 12th over, Saud went close to Salman and made remarks which could have provoked the batter.
“Both players pleaded guilty to the charges and accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Mohammad Javed.
“The charges were imposed by on-field umpires Ahsan Raza and Chris Gaffaney.”
It must be noted that Islamabad United defeated Quetta Gladiators by 39 runs. The win saw United making way to the second Eliminator where they will take on Babar Azam's Peshawar Zalmi tomorrow at the same venue.
The Gladiators crumbled during their 175-run chase as they fell 39 runs short. Islamabad’s bowlers were all over the chasing side and didn’t let them get back in the game from the very start.
Chasing the target, Quetta suffered multiple blows right at the start of their innings as they had lost five wickets for just 16 runs in the first five overs.
Imad picked three, Naseem got two while Obey McCoy, Hunain Shah and Faheem Ashraf picked one wicket each.
Batting first, despite a slow start, Islamabad picked up rhythm and started blasting boundaries.
Martin Guptill top-scored for the two-time PSL winners with 56 off 47 deliveries courtesy of six boundaries. He was followed by Salman Ali Agha who contributed 31 runs on 21 balls.
- Abrar Ahmed