Harmanpreet Kaur has been suspended for 2 matches.

Indian women’s cricket team captain, Harmanpreet Kaur has been banned for two matches by the International Cricket Council (ICC), for causing trouble during the third and final One Day International (ODI) against Bangladesh in Dhaka. The incident took place on 24 July 2023, when Kaur expressed her displeasure with the umpiring decision by hitting her bat stump and gesturing in protest at the umpire, Tanveer Ahmed.

On Tuesday, the ICC said in a statement that Harmanpreet was handed a two-match suspension based on his breach of the code of conduct.

Harmanpreet Kaur was found guilty of breaching Article 2.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel regarding “dissenting an umpire’s decision”.

Harmanpreet smashed the stumps with his bat

Kaur was fined 25 percent of her match fee for a Level 1 offense relating to “public criticism of an incident occurring in an international match”, when during the presentation ceremony, Kaur openly criticized the umpiring in the match.

When Harmanpreet was batting on Saturday, he was dismissed by umpire Tanveer Ahmed as he was caught in the slips. But the Indian skipper defied his decision and smashed the stumps with his bat, appearing to remonstrate with the umpire before making a gesture towards the crowd. He later described the umpiring standard as “deplorable” in the post-match ceremony.

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Match officials recommended three demerit points for equipment damage and one demerit point for publicly criticizing match officials. However, all these will be based on ICC’s final decision. The BCCI is said to have spoken to the ICC about the situation.

The conduct could lead to Harmanpreet Kaur, the first female cricketer, to be found guilty of a level-two breach of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Code of Conduct, which governs the conduct of players.

Breaking the stumps – either by batting or kicking – when reacting to umpiring decisions is unusual in cricket. The most recent case, incidentally, occurred in Bangladesh. During a Dhaka Premier League (DPL) Twenty20 match between Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club in 2021, Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was banned for three matches and fined US$ 5800 (approx).

ICC regulations state that if a player accumulates four or more demerit points within 24 months, they are converted into suspension points. In Kaur’s case, she is expected to receive three demerit points for damaging playing equipment and one for publicly criticizing match officials. That’s a total of four demerit points, which equates to two suspension points, resulting in a two-match ban.

This has happened before

This is not the first time that Kaur has been punished. He was earlier accused of throwing his helmet on the ground during the ODI World Cup 2017 semi-final against Australia and his partner. The player earned a demerit point for verbally attacking Deepti Sharma.

The final decision on Kaur’s punishment rests with the ICC. However, it is understood that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is currently discussing the issue with cricket’s world governing body. If the ban is upheld, Kaur will miss the first two matches of the upcoming South Africa home series. In that case, Smriti Mandhana can be seen captaining the national team.