Sunday, January 31, 2010

Afridi given ban for biting ball

Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi is Pakistan's regular Twenty20 captain

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi will miss the first of two Twenty20 internationals against England in Dubai after biting the ball in a one-day match in Perth.

Afridi was caught on camera as he found a novel way to alter the state of the ball, and the umpires changed it before Australia wrapped up a 5-0 series win.

He was banned for two Twenty20 games, starting with the one-off match against Australia in Melbourne on Friday.

He then misses out against England at Dubai's Sports City on 19 February.

All-rounder Afridi was skippering Pakistan, as a stand-in for Mohammad Yousuf, in Sunday's day-nighter when the incident occurred,

But he is also the new Twenty20 captain, a role that may now revert to Shoaib Malik, the captain across all three formats early last year.

Younus Khan, who led Pakistan to ICC World Twenty20 glory in England last summer, has retired from the shortest version of the game.

The ICC said in a statement that Afridi had been charged with an article 2.2.9 offence of the ICC code of conduct which relates to "changing the condition of the ball".

ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle, who handed Afridi the maximum penalty available, said: "Afridi, when pleading guilty, apologised and regretted his actions."

In 2005, Afridi was banned for one Test and two one-day internationals for deliberately scuffing up the wicket with his spikes in a match against England in Faisalabad.

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