Agarkar gets away with a token fine

Agarkar had been caught wandering outside his crease by wicket-keeper CM Gautam, who threw the stumps down and appealed to square-leg umpire Sanjay Hazare. In Hazare’s opinion, the ball had still been in play; he only consulted third umpire S Ravi to confirm if Agarkar had been within the safety of his crease, and when the answer was a ‘no’, the experienced Mumbaikar lingered on for way too long, protesting the decision with words and gesticulations.

Match referee S Ramesh summoned Agarkar to a disciplinary hearing at the end of the day’s proceedings, and after reviewing all the evidence, found that he was guilty of showing dissent at the umpire’s decision. The former Kerala player deemed it fit to slap a fine of 50 percent of his match fee (roughly Rs 25,000)  on Agarkar, a light sentence by most accounts.

Through a press release, the match referee said Agarkar had been charged under the BCCI Code of Conduct Level 1 offence. “When given run out, there was an obvious delay in leaving the wicket and he also entered into prolonged discussion with the umpire,” Ramesh said.  “This is an offence showing dissent at an umpire’s decision. As per BCCI guidelines, the penalty imposed for the offence is an official reprimand and a fine of 50 percent of the match fee.”