West Indies’ player Nicholas Pooran has been suspended for next four T20Is after being found guilty of changing the condition of the ball in the third and final ODI against Afghanistan, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Wednesday.
Pooran was charged during the third ODI in India’s Lucknow with “changing the condition of the ball” after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail, ICC said in a statement.
The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani and third umpire Ahmed Pakteen as well as fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.
Pooran admitted the offence and accepted the sanction.
“I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty,” Pooran said. “I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated.””
He said: “I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow. I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser.”
