Ishant Sharma, Three Sri Lankans Fined For On-Ground Fracas

Ishant Sharma and three Sri Lankan players Prasad, Chandimal and Thirimanne have been fined by the ICC.

Ishant Sharma and Dhammika Prasad get into an altercation during day 4 of the third Test match at Colombo. (Photo: Reuters)

Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma and three Sri Lankan players, Dhammika Prasad, Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, have been fined by the ICC for getting into an altercation on the fourth day of the third Test at Colombo.

Ishant and Prasad got into a fight in the final over of the Indian second innings, which was being bowled by the Sri Lankan pacer.

Prasad bowled a couple of bouncers which Ishant left alone and had a smile for the Lankan pacer. A bit agitated, Prasad bowled a third bouncer, which was illegal and was promptly signalled a no-ball by the umpire.

Having exhausted his quota of two bouncers for the over, Prasad pitched one up and Ishant cut it towards point region for a single. But as he ran past Prasad, he started tapping his helmet with an obvious gesture to the fast bowler to try and hit him on the head.

Umpire Nigel Llong has a chat with Ishant Sharma. (Photo: Reuters)

Once the run was complete, Prasad had a few words for Ishant, who was in no mood to back down and walked up to him.

Just when they were exchanging words angrily, Dinesh Chandimal, while passing, grazed Ishant’s shirt and added some words of his own which suddenly got Ravichandran Ashwin agitated.

Ashwin drew the attention of umpires Rod Tucker and Nigel Llong who then called up Angelo Mathews to tell him to calm his players down.

Still pretty angry at what happened, Prasad deliberately overstepped and bowled a fourth bouncer to Ishant after which he took a single.

The final delivery of the over saw Prasad dismissing Ashwin. But then as Ishant was trudging towards the pavilion, Prasad ran towards him and said a few words.

Ishant had been fined 65 percent of his match fee for a previous showdown in the second Test. Thirimanne, too, was fined 30 percent of his match fee for showing dissent at the umpire’s decision during the second Test.