Nepal Under-19 Subhash Bhandari was found guilty of violating the ICC Code of Conduct during the U19 World Cup match against Pakistan.
The match was played at Buffalo Park in east London on 24 January. The incident took place during Pakistan’s 14th innings when Bhandari threw the ball towards Pakistani batsman Shahzaib Khan, which hit his forearm.
Subhash Bhandari violated Article 2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which means “throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an international match.”
Subhash Bhandari violates ICC Code of Conduct
The charges were brought by field umpires Phil Gillespie and Bongani Jele, television umpire Forster Mutizwa and fourth umpire KN Ananthapadmanabhan. While this was a level conduct offence, it carries a minimum penalty of an official caution and a maximum of 50 per cent of match fees. One or two demerit points are also added to the player’s disciplinary record.
Subhash Bhandari was reprimanded for breaching the level one conduct offense and a demerit point was also added to his disciplinary record. Bhandari committed the crime for the first time in 24 months. Bhandari accepted his mistake and admitted that he had committed a crime. He also accepted the penalty imposed by on-field referee Graeme Labrooy.
While batting first against Pakistan U19 team, Nepal U19 scored 197 runs while batting first. Opener Bipin Rawal was the top run-scorer in the innings and scored 39 runs off 68 balls. Captain Dev Khanal scored 23 runs off 37 balls, while Subhash Bhandari was the third highest run-scorer of the innings and scored 20 runs off 24 balls.
All Nepal batsmen started but couldn’t convert it into a big score and came out scoring 15-20 odd runs. Pakistan used seven bowlers while bowling first and six of them were able to add wickets to their column.
Arafat Minhas was the most successful bowler and picked up 3 wickets, Ubaid Shah and Ahmad Hasaan picked up 2 wickets each, while Khubaid Khalil, Mohammad Zeeshan and Ali Asfand picked up 1 wicket each.
Chasing the target, Pakistan U19 got off to a decent start as openers Sharmyl Hussain and Shazaib Khan added 80 runs for the first wicket. Both batsmen were dismissed after scoring 37 runs. Arafaf Minhas was dismissed for 8 runs while captain Saad Baig did not trouble the scorers and had to return after scoring a duck. Azan Awais remained unbeaten with 63 runs off 82 balls and led his team to the finish line.
Pakistan in the end was able to win the match by 5 wickets and is currently on the first place in Group D. Nepal is on the third place with 1 win in 3 games. Pakistan will now face New Zealand in their next match as both teams will look to continue their unbeaten run in the group stage.