NEW DELHI AFP: West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran has been banned for four T20 internationals for tampering with the ball in a one-day match against Afghanistan, cricket’s world body announced Wednesday.
Pooran admitted to “changing the condition of the ball” after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the white ball with his thumbnail in Lucknow on Monday.
“He will now miss the next four T20I games for the West Indies and will have five demerit points added to his record,” said an International Cricket Council statement. Pooran said that he wanted to “issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow”.
“I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty,” he added.
“I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated.