India opener Shubman Gill has been fined 15 per cent of his match fees for questioning on social media an umpiring decision against him in the World Test Championship (WTC) final, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Monday.
After India had been set a daunting target of 444 by Australia, Cameron Green took a stunner to dismiss Gill for 18 even though opinions differed on whether it was a clean catch.
Video replays could not clearly establish if the ball had brushed the ground when Green caught it but third umpire Richard Kettleborough ruled in Australia’s favour.
Gill subsequently tweeted a front-on angle of the catch adding two magnifying glasses and a facepalm emoji to it to convey his disbelief.
The 23-year-old’s post breached article 2.7 of the ICC’s code of conduct relating to “public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an international match”, the ICC said in a statement.
Gill accepted the sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing, it said.
India captain Rohit Sharma called the decision “a little disappointing”, and said more camera angles could have removed any doubt.
India were also fined their entire match fee, while Australia were docked 80 per cent of their fees for maintaining slow over-rates at The Oval. India were found five overs short of their target, while Australia were four overs behind.
