'I Was Pretty Frustrated': Usman Khawaja Reveals He Played A Key Role In Recent Over-Rate Penalty Amendments
In the latest development, Australian opener Usman Khawaja has revealed that he played a key role in the recent amendments made by the International Cricket Council with regard to the over-rate fines.
The ICC recently revised its over-rate penalties for slow over-rates. The players will now be fined 5% (as opposed to the previous 20%) for every over their team is down on the over-rate. The upper limit has been capped to 50℅ as opposed to the previous upper limit of full match-fee.
In addition to this, the over-rate penalties and WTC point deductions will not kick-in if a side gets bowled out under 80 overs; previously it was 60 overs.
In an interview with ESPNCricinfo, Khawaja revealed that he directly communicated the concerns of the players to the ICC General Manager of Cricket, Wasim Khan, adding that cricketers were being treated very harshly for providing continuous entertainment to the on-lookers.
"I was pretty frustrated with what was happening. I just thought someone has to find a way to speak to the ICC about it. We had played three games and they'd been three really good games with results, [providing] entertainment and we were getting fined 80% of our match fee. It's a lot of money. [It's] just really frustrating as a player, you are giving it your all out there, providing entertainment, then you are getting stung for it." said Khawaja ahead of the Old Trafford Test.
Both Australia and England were docked 2 WTC points and 40% of their match-fee in the Edgbaston Test.
The amendment has been backdated to the start of the current cycle, which kicked off with the Ashes last month.
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