Disappointed that South Africa’s Faf du Plessis was let off with a fine for ball tampering, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will write to the ICC to review match referee’s decision and impose harsher punishment for his “grave” violation of rules.
Du Plessis was caught tampering with the ball on the third day of the second Test in Dubai. But he escaped with only a fine of 50 percent of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to the charges, by Australian match referee David Boon.
A senior official of the board told PTI that a letter will be dispatched to the International Cricket Council on Monday asking for a review of the match referee’s decision.
“There appears to be no uniform system for imposing penalties by ICC referees. We feel du Plessis has committed a grave violation of the laws and should have got harsher punishment,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket fraternity expressed their unhappiness over the episode and accused the ICC of unfair treatment.
The chairman of the PCB interim management committee Najam Sethi tweeted about his disappointment and confirmed the board would take up the issue with the ICC.
“We want to know why this anomaly in imposition of penalties, why different set of rules were applied for Plessis and Shahid Afridi?” Mr. Sethi asked.
Afridi was banned for two T20 internationals in Australia in 2010 after being caught tampering with the ball in an ODI match. Afridi, too, expressed sadness over discrimination by the international body.
“I don’t know how to say this but there appears to be a clear discrimination when it comes to imposing penalties for rule violations for us and others,” Afridi told reporters.
