Afridi among eight Pak players fined for partying late

February 13, 2015

Sydney, Feb 13: Eight Pakistan players, including maverick former captain Shahid Afridi, have been fined for breaching a team curfew ahead of their crucial World Cup game against India, sources told AFP today. They have also been warned that a repeat offence will see them kicked out of the tournament which starts on Saturday.

Afridi fined

"Eight of the Pakistan players, which also included former captain Shahid Afridi and opener Ahmed Shehzad, were fined 300 Australian dollars (USD 230) after they came late to their Sydney hotel on Sunday," sources in the Pakistan team told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The eight players include senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi, opener Ahmed Shehzad, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail.

The official said the players had gone out for dinner with a friend in Sydney before the warm-up game against Bangladesh.

"After dinner, they went for an outing and returned to the hotel late. They have been fined 300 Australian dollars each."

The players had returned to the hotel about an hour after the curfew timings set by the manager.

But a source told PTI that the matter became serious when some pictures of Afridi were posted on a social network site and a prominent local Pakistani Australian informed the team management that Shehzad had got into an argument with a Pakistani fan at a club.

The players are understood to have apologised and have promised not to repeat the offence.

The team management, headed by manager Naveed Cheema, a former military man, claimed the players arrived 45 minutes late after a night out. "These players went with their friends for dinner but came back late," said a team source.

Team management have told the players that if such a breach was repeated, they will be sent home on the first available flight.

Pakistan are placed in Group B of the 14-team World Cup which starts in New Zealand and Australia from Saturday.

Pakistan play their first group game against arch-rivals and title-holders India in Adelaide on Sunday. Pakistani players have a history of off-field discipline problems.

Three key players -- Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer -- were caught in a spot-fixing scandal in England in 2010. The trio was accused of taking money to orchestrate deliberate no-balls during the Lord's Test. All three were banned for five years by the International Cricket Council. They, along with their agent Mazhar Majeed, were also jailed in UK.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
January 8,2020

Indore, Jan 8: Skipper Virat Kohli struck an unbeaten 30 as India beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the second Twenty20 international in Indore on Tuesday.

The hosts rode a 71-run opening stand between KL Rahul, who hit 45, and Shikhar Dhawan, who made 32, to chase down their target of 143 in 17.3 overs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after the first match was rained off.

Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga took the wickets of the Indian openers but Shreyas Iyer, who scored 34 before falling to paceman Lahiru Kumara, and Kohli, who hit the winning six, got the team home.

The third match is on Friday in Pune.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

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