LAHORE: Ben Cutting of Peshawar Zalmi and Sohail Tanvir of Quetta Gladiators were fined 15 percent of their match fees for making obscene gestures and breaching the code of conduct of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) in separate incidents during the fixture between their respective sides on Tuesday.
According to a statement, the players were found to have violated Article 2.6 of the Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during a PSL Match”.
The incident involving Cutting happened in the penultimate over of Zalmi’s innings when the batter, after hitting the bowler for a third consecutive six, flashed the middle finger.
Sohail made similar gestures after catching Cutting off Naseem Shah on the first ball of the final over.
“Such type of inappropriate gestures have no space in this great sport. The players need to always understand and remember their on and off the field responsibilities as they are role models and behaviour like this sends out a wrong message to the younger generation of cricketers,” match referee Ali Naqvi said in a statement.
“The HBL PSL 2022 is being played in good, positive spirits and I would like to see the players continue to fight hard inside the field of play but at the same time to remain within the parameters of the spirit of the game,” he added.
Both Cutting and Sohail pleaded guilty to the offences and accepted the sanctions proposed to be imposed by Ali Naqvi and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing.
The charges were levelled by on-field umpires Michael Gough and Rashid Riaz, third umpire Asif Yaqoob and fourth umpire Waleed Yaqoob.
