The International Cricket Council (ICC) has fined Pakistan with five per cent of their match fees for a slow-over rate during their Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 contest against India on Sunday, June 14. The Women in Green lost their tournament opener to the Women in Blue by a handsome margin of 64 runs at Edgbaston, Birmingham, after an underwhelming performance in both batting and bowling.ย
ICC match referee Trudy Anderson imposed the sanction as the Fatima Sana-led side was found one over short of the required rate time following the time allowances, which were taken into consideration.ย
The minimum over-rate offences fall under Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. As per the ICC law, “…where the Match Referee confirms that the Minimum Over Rate has not been achieved by the fielding side in any International Match, this shall constitute an offence under Article 2.22 of the Code of Conduct and the Match Referee will promptly issue a Notice of Charge in accordance with Article 4.1 of the Code of Conduct (with the Team Captain being charged on behalf of all the Players in the fielding side as well as him/herself) and the matter will be thereafter be adjudicated by the Match Referee in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 5.”ย
It added that “all 11 players in the fielding team” will be penalised “5% of Match Fee per over short of Minimum Over Rate (subject to a maximum cap of 50% of Match Fee).
Pakistan lose big to India in WC
Coming to the match, Pakistan failed to find the spark to beat India. They conceded 170/6 after Smriti Mandhana hit a strong half-century and Richa Ghosh made a 17-ball 34. They were outclassed by the spin magic of Deepti Sharma and Sree Charani, both of whom combined to take eight wickets with the all-rounder scalping a record five-wicket haul, while Charani bagged 3/21.ย
Deepti’s hardly-believable 5/10 in her four overs created the record for the best figures for India in T20 World Cups, beating Renuka Singh Thakur’s 5/15 during the 2023 World Cup clash against England. Deepti is only the third Indian to have scalped a fifer in the tournament, with Priyank Roy being the third cricketer to have done so.
She also became the first Indian to have scalped multiple five-wicket hauls in the Women’s T20Is and just the sixth among full member teams.ย
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