Navdeep Saini handed one demerit point for 'aggressive gestures' to Nicholas Pooran

Navdeep Saini had made a dream debut in the first Twenty20 International against West Indies in Florida. Saini took two wickets in his first over in international cricket which included Nicholas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer. It was the wicket of Pooran which saw Saini celebrate a bit too aggressively. After Pooran top-edged a short ball and was caught by Rishabh Pant, Saini raised his arms and aggressively pointed Pooran to go back to the West Indies dressing room. Pooran was clearly not happy with the incident as he walked off. The celebrations have resulted in Saini getting one demerit point.

"Saini was found to have breached Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to using actions or gestures which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon their dismissal," said the ICC in a statement. "He has also been handed one demerit point," the statement added. Saini was charged by the on-field umpires Nigel Duguid and Gregory Braithwaite, third umpire Leslie Reifer and fourth official Patrick Gustard.  He admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Jeff Crowe of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees. Hence, there was no need for a formal hearing.

Rohit’s fifty, combined with some disciplined bowling from Krunal Pandya and rain gave India victory by 22 runs via DLS method and also helped them take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. On the same strip where West Indies struggled to 95/9, India chose to bat and immediately, they were boosted by some fine batting from Rohit. The Mumbai batsman tied the sixes record by flicking Oshane Thomas to the deep midwicket and then broke it in style when he hammered Sunil Narine over the deep midwicket fence to become the ultimate six-hitter in the shortest format of the game.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Rohit Sharma blasted his 17th fifty.
• Navdeep Saini picked up 3/17 in the first match.
• Saini gave an aggressive send-off to Nicholas Pooran.