Sohail Tanvir and Ben Cutting have been fined 15 per cent of their match fees for inappropriate gestures during Tuesday’s PSL clash between Peshawar Zalmi against Quetta Gladiators at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
In the 19th over of the Zalmi’s innings, Cutting smashed Tanvir for three sixes in a row. After hitting the third six, the Australian went up to his counterpart and showed both his middle fingers. Things turned a tad ugly after the batter smacked the pacer for the fourth six in the over.
Thereafter, Tanvir went up to Cutting to have a few words. Seeing the situation getting out of control, Hussain Talat took Cutting away from the ex-Pakistan international. The scenario was getting worse to the extent that even the umpires could have been involved.
Tanvir conceded 27 runs off the over, where Cutting took him apart with some brutal hitting. However, both Cutting and Tanvir were found to have violated Article 2.6 of the league code of conduct for “using a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during a PSL match“.
Match Referee Ali Naqvi imposed the sanctions on the two cricketers. Both the player pleaded guilty and accepted the sanctions. Tanvir didn’t have a great day with the ball as he leaked 50 runs in four overs and couldn’t pick up a wicket.
Later in a post on Instagram, Tanvir said that the history of the incident with Cutting dates back to 2018 when they played in the Caribbean Premier League in the West Indies. After Tuesday, Tanvir said that he apologized to Cutting.
“I went and apologized to him [Cutting] at breakfast the next morning. It wasn’t a good gesture at all, it should’ve been avoided.
As far as Cutting was concerned, he scored 36 off 14 balls with the help of one four and four sixes. In the first ball of the 20th over, Naseem Shah rattled his woodwork. Cutting’s late blitz meant the Zalmi racked up a massive score of 185 for seven after opting to bat first.
The Zalmi lost Hazratullah Zazai and Liam Livingstone early to Shah. But a 52-run stand between Mohammad Haris and Shoaib Malik brought the Zalmi back in the hunt. Malik brought forth all his experience and scored 58 runs off 41 balls with the help of eight fours.
Talat, who batted at No.5, also chipped in with a handy 33-ball knock of 51, laced with six fours and one six. After Sherfane Rutherford bagged a duck, it was Cutting, who went bonkers and threw the kitchen sink at everything.
Cutting’s late onslaught helped the Zalmi cross the 180-run mark with relative ease. The Gladiators didn’t make a great start to their run-chase as Jason Roy and James Vince perished without adding much to the board.
Vince even failed to open his account before Usman Qadir rattled his woodwork. Sarfaraz Ahmed threatened to get going as he made 25 off 21, but he holed out to Livingstone at deep mid-wicket.
The likes of Umar Akmal and Iftikhar Ahmed couldn’t make much of an impact either. At the other end, opening batter Will Smeed played a lone hand. He played until the 18th over and kept the Gladiators in the hunt for a victory.
Smeed scored 99 runs off 60 balls with the help of 12 fours and three sixes. But Salman Irshad castled him and ended the Gladiators’ hopes once and for all. The Gladiators ended with 161 for eight in 20 overs.
