India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been fined 50 percent of his match fee after being found guilty of “conduct contrary to the spirit of the game”, the International Cricket Council announced Friday.
However, he was not banned and remains free to play in the rest of the ongoing five-Test series with England.
Jadeja, 25, was involved in an incident with England seamer James Anderson during the lunch break on the second day of the drawn first Test at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge ground on July 10.
England charged Jadeja with a Level Two offence under the ICC’s code of conduct in retaliation for India bringing a more serious Level Three charge against Anderson for allegedly “abused and pushing” Jadeja.
However, ICC match referee David Boon, following a two-and-a-half hour hearing in Southampton on Thursday involving the two players, their lawyers and representatives of both teams, downgraded Jadeja’s offence to Level One status.
While a Level Two infringement could have seen Jadeja banned for one match, the maximum penalty for a Level One breach is 50 percent of a player’s match fee.
“While I was in no doubt that confrontation did occur, and that such conduct was not in the spirit of the game and should not have taken place, I was not comfortably satisfied that this was a level two offence,” Boon said in an ICC statement.
“Therefore, in exercising my discretion under article 7.6.5 of the Code and having heard all the evidence, I was comfortably satisfied that Mr Jadeja had committed a level one offence under article 2.1.8 of the Code,” the former Australia batsman added.
Although Boon found Jadeja guilty of a lesser charge than the one levelled against him by England, India team management were unhappy with his decision.
In a statement, they said they were “not satisfied with the verdict” and reserved their right of appeal, adding they believed “Jadeja was “not at fault”, and that he had their full support.
An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman told AFP they were not commenting on the Jadeja decision.
Anderson’s case will be dealt with in a separate hearing under ICC code of conduct commissioner Gordon Lewis on August 1 — the day after the third Test in Southampton, in which the England paceman, like Jadeja, is free to play — is due to finish.
If found guilty of a Level Three offence, Anderson faces a ban of between two to four Tests.
That would rule him out of both next month’s fourth Test on his Lancashire home ground of Old Trafford and the series finale at The Oval in south London.
However, Lewis, like Boon, does have the option to downgrade the charge facing Anderson if he finds him not guilty of a Level Three infringement.
Level Two offences carry a fine of between 50-100 percent of a player’s match fee and/or up two suspension points, which equates to a ban of one Test.
India lead the series 1-0 after their 95-run win in the second Test at Lord’s on Monday, the match ending with Jadeja’s run out of Anderson after which the players were seen shaking hands.
