India’s team manager, Vinod Phadke, has been fined 40 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of making inappropriate comments about umpire Vineet Kulkarni ahead of Wednesday’s second One-Day International against South Africa, in Indore.
Phadke was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an International Match or any Player, Player Support Personnel, Match official or team participating in any International Match”.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge and, as such, Chris Broad of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees conducted a formal hearing after the match.
The charge, laid by the Playing Control Team, relates to comments made by Phadke in a website interview about Vineet Kulkarni, a member of the International Panel of ICC Umpires.
The range of permissible sanctions for all first Level 1 offences is a warning or reprimand and/or the imposition of a fine of up to 50 per cent of the applicable match fee.
India, led by a fine all-round showing by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, won the match by 22 runs and levelled the five-ODI series 1-1.