Kings XI Punjab pacer S. Sreesanth has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee ($9,000) for clapping at the umpire when he was no-balled twice during his side’s Indian Premier League match against Rajasthan Royals here.
“Kings XI Punjab’s S. Sreesanth has been fined for breaching the DLF Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Code of Conduct during his team’s match against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur,” the IPL said in a statement.
Sreesanth pleaded guilty to the Level 1 offence (Article 2.1.3), which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision.”
The incident took place in the third over of the Rajasthan Royals innings when Sreesanth was twice no-balled while bowling. Infuriated by the umpire’s decision, Sreesanth first clapped at rival batsman Michael Lumb and then at the umpires.
Soon teammate Yuvraj Singh ran up to him and asked the Kerala pacer to mend his ways and concentrate on his bowling.
“As a result, Match Referee Srinivas Venkataraghavan fined Sreesanth 20 per cent ($9,000) of his match fee,” the IPL statement read.
Rajasthan beat Punjab, lying at the bottom of the points table, by nine wickets in the match.
No stranger to controversies, Sreesanth was given a “final warning” by the Indian cricket board last October to mend his on-field behaviour.
During the first edition of the Indian Premier League, Sreesanth was slapped by Harbhajan Singh after an altercation which left the medium pacer crying on the field.
The issue soon snowballed into a big controversy and although Sreesanth was let off with a warning, Harbhajan was suspended from the rest of the tournament.
Sreesanth later got injured was out of the Indian team for a long time before returning to the national fold last year.
