Jadeja fined 50% of match fees

Ravindra Jadeja, while making 17 off 27 balls, ran down the middle of the pitch repeatedly, umpire Bruce Oxenford pulled him up and awarded penalty runs to New Zealand’s total. The ICC, later, fined Jadeja 50% of his match fees saying “he infringed the protected area for the fourth time and damaged it.” Per a revision of the code of conduct, Jadeja has also been slapped with three demerit points. If he receives one more demerit point, within a two-year time frame, he could be suspended from one Test, or two ODIs or two T20Is, whichever comes first.

This is not the first time Jadeja has been in such trouble in this series. In Kolkata, he was warned twice for cutting across the pitch and the danger area when appealing for a wicket.

The umpires don’t need to attach motive to the transgressions of players, they are there to penalise the actions, but for a Test player to run on the middle of pitch even after being warned has rung the alarm bells for New Zealand.

Their coach, Mike Hesson, said only a few words but he got the message across. “Surface is still pretty good, I think it’s fair to say footmarks are building as they tend to do, but the body of the surface is still very good. I’m sure the umpires will maintain that.”

If a bowler …

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