Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam fined 25% of match fees for throwing the ball at Angelo Mathews

Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam was found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct and was fined 25% of his match fees after the third day’s play of the ongoing Test match in Dhaka. 

During the game, the spinner lost his cool and was penalized by ICC for throwing the ball towards Angelo Mathews, despite the Lankan batter being well inside the crease. 

On Wednesday (May 25th), the incident happened during the 69th over of Day 3 in the ongoing second Test match between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. 

Sri Lanka was at 194 for four after 68 overs, with Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva looking to build a partnership. Mathews was batting on 21 off 69 when he started the 69th over with a boundary towards wide mid-wicket. 

He again went on to cut the ball through Point after a couple of deliveries but failed to clear the fielder. Following this, Taijul came back tossing up, making Mathews go for a drive. The ball went rolling to the former, who shied away and threw the ball back, which hit straight at the latter on the bounce. The Sri Lankan raised his right hand to save himself and got a hit on his thumb. 

Islam, who apologized to the Sri Lankan immediately, was found to have breached Article 2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to throwing a ball at or near a player in an inappropriate and/or dangerous manner during an international match.

In addition, the 30-year-old was also handed a demerit point in his disciplinary record, for whom it was the first offence in 24 months. 

On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Sharfuddola, third umpire Richard Kettleborough and fourth official Gazi Sohel did the needful as Taijul himself admitted his mistake and accepted the sanction proposed by Match Referee Chris Broad.