ICC reprimands India pacer Jasprit Bumrah for 'inappropriate physical contact' with Ollie Pope

Jasprit Bumrah, who was India's best bowler in the first Test in Hyderabad against England was reprimanded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for 'inappropriate physical contact' with the player of the match Ollie Pope. Bumrah, who admitted to the sanction, was slapped with a fine of 50 percent of his match fees and a demerit point, levied by the match referee Richie Richardson.

"The pacer was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator during an International Match," the ICC said in a statement

The incident occurred in the 81st over of England's batting innings when Bumrah 'deliberately' stepped in Ollie Pope's way when he was taking a run and that led to an 'inappropriate physical



contact'. 

Bumrah pleaded guilty and hence there was no requirement for a formal hearing. Since it was the first such incident for Bumrah in the last 24 months, only one demerit point was added to the Indian pacer's record.

It was a memorable Test match for England and Pope in particular for a few reasons. Pope, who scored 153 runs in eight innings in the previous tour to India, scored 196 in just one innings and his knock was the sole reason why England managed to take a lead of 230 runs in the second innings after finishing off the 190-run deficit.

Tom Hartley, who went for a lot of runs in the first innings was the star of the show for England with the ball in the second innings taking 7/62 as the Indian batters failed to read and negotiate spin. KS Bharat and R Ashwin did manage to delay the inevitable and even instilled some hope that India could still win it, however, it wasn't to be and the visitors prevailed by 28 runs.