Nepal cricketer Subhash Bhandari found guilty of breaching ICC Code of Conduct

Nepal U19 off-spinner Subhash Bhandari was found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the U19 World Cup match against Pakistan.

The match was played at Buffalo Park in East London on January 24. The incident took place during the 14th of Pakistan’s innings when Bhandari threw the ball towards Pakistani batsman Shahzaib Khan, which went onto hit the forearm.

Subhash Bhandari breached 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 breaches the ICC Code of Conduct

The charges were put by the onfield umpires Phil Gillespie and Bongani Jele, TV umpire Forster Mutizwa and fourth umpire, K.N. Ananthapadmanabhan. While this was a level breach of conduct, that carries a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, and a maximum of 50 percent of the match fees. One or two demerit points are also added to the disciplinary record of the player.

Subhash Bhandari was reprimanded for breaching the level one breach of conduct and also one demerit point was added to his disciplinary record. Bhandari performed the offense for the first time in 24 months. Bhandari accepted his mistake and admitted that he had committed an offense. He also accepted the sanction that was put on him by the onfield umpire Graeme Labrooy.

While batting first against the Pakistan U19 team, Nepal U19 were wrapped up for 197 runs while batting first. Opener Bipin Rawal was the highest run scorer in the innings and scored 39 runs from 68 balls. Captain Dev Khanal scored 23 runs from 37 balls whereas Subhash Bhandari was the third-highest run scorer of the innings and scored 20 runs from 24 balls.

Every Nepal batsman got starts but were not able to convert it into a big score and got out by scoring 15 to 20 odd runs. Pakistan used seven bowlers while bowling first and six of them were able to add wickets in their column.

Arafat Minhas was the most successful bowler and picked up 3 wickets, Ubaid Shah and Ahmad Hasaan picked up 2 wickets each, whereas, Khubaid Khalil, Mohammad Zeeshan, and Ali Asfand picked up 1 wicket apiece.

Chasing down the target, Pakistan U19 were off to a decent start when openers Sharmyl Hussain and Shazaib Khan added 80 runs for the first wicket. Both the batsmen were dismissed after scoring 37 runs. Arafaf Minhas was removed for 8 runs whereas captain Saad Baig didn’t trouble the scorers and had to walk back after scoring a duck. Azan Awais remained unbeaten on 63 runs from 82 balls and took his team over the line.

Pakistan in the end were able to win the match by 5 wickets and are currently in the top spot of Group D. Nepal are in the 3rd spot with 1 win out of 3 games. Pakistan will now face New Zealand in their next match as both teams will look to continue their unbeaten streak in the group stage.