At least we are number 1 in something, right. Jokes aside, is this a case of:
- Players from the sub-continent lack discipline?
- Lack of proper leadership
- Clear case of racial discrimination
- Cultural differences
What do the guppies say…
Pakistan, India players lead on list of reprimands
By Waheed Khan
KARACHI: Guess which is the team whose players have been reported for most number of times for on-field misconduct by the International Cricket Council (ICC) match officials since 2000.
Cricket followers would be surprised to learn that in the latest figures available with the ICC, Pakistani players have topped the list of those players who’ve been reported for on-field behaviour and transgressions.
And the interesting thing is that at least in this area Pakistan and their rivals are close to each other with Indian players coming in at number two position of the teams reported the most times for transgressions by the ICC match-referees in the last five-years.
While the Pakistani players — led by their soft-spoken captain Inzamam-ul-Haq — have been reported for 21 times to the match-referee, the Indian players are not far behind with 19 Code of Conduct hearings.
The ICC recently said it was going to get tough on players in the habit of consistently testing the match officials with their behaviour on the field and with badly behaved teams and it is clear that when Pakistan start their new international season from November their players would’ve to be careful to guard against anymore penalties.
The surprising part is that the captains of the two teams Inzamam and Sourav Ganguly have been reprimanded more than any other player. Inzamam has been pulled up eight times while Ganguly has been reprimanded 7 times in the last five years.
Bangladesh is the best-behaved team with just three complaints against them. New Zealand and the West Indies with five complaints share the second spot.
Surprisingly, contrary to the belief that the Australian players are over aggressive, they’ve had fewer complaints against them (11) as compared to their archrivals England who have had 13 complaints against them. Out of a total of the 108 Code of Conduct hearings, 52 have been against players from the Sub-continent which does credence to arguments and allegations voiced by some former players and cricket analysts that match-referees tend to apply standards while supervising matches involving Sub-continent teams.
In 1992, the ICC introduced a Code of Conduct to deal with behaviour of international cricketers. This gave match referees the authority to deal with transgressions of the code during Test matches and One-day Internationals.
List of teams along with respective number of misconduct incidents: 1. Pakistan (21) 2. India (19) 3. South Africa (14) 4. England (13) 5. Australia (11) 6. Sri Lanka (9) 7. Zimbabwe (6) 8. New Zealand (5) 9. West Indies (5) 10. Bangladesh (3) 11. Kenya (1).
Players with most number of reprimands: Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan): 8 (2000 =2; 2001= 1; 2004 = 1; 2005 =4). Sourav Ganguly (India): 7 (2000=1; 2001 =3; 2004 =1; 2005 =2).
