IPL 2023: Ashwin fined 25% match fee for breach of code of conduct

CHENNAI: Rajasthan Royals' veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been fined 25 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during Wednesday's match in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 against Chennai Super Kings at MA Chidambaram Stadium.

According to a statement from the tournament, Ashwin admitted to the Level 1 Offence under Article 2.7 of the IPL's Code of Conduct. For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding.

As per the IPL code of conduct, Article 2.7 deals with public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in a Match or any Player, Team Official, Match Official or Team participating in any Match, irrespective of when such criticism or inappropriate comment is made.

"Without limitation, Players and Team Officials will breach Article 2.7 if they publicly criticise the Match Officials or denigrate a Player or Team against which they have played in relation to incidents which occurred in a match."

"When assessing the seriousness of the breach, without limitation, the context within which the comments have been made and the gravity of the offending comments must be taken into account," said a note related to Article 2.7.

In the post-match press conference, after Rajasthan won by three wickets, Ashwin had said he was left puzzled by the decision of the on-field umpires to change the ball during the 12th over due to the dew during Chennai's chase of 176, despite his team not asking for any such change.

"I'm quite surprised the umpires changed the ball for dew on their own. It's never happened before and I'm quite surprised. Some of the decisions in this year's IPL on the field have left me a little flummoxed, to be honest."

"It left me flummoxed in a good or bad way because what you need is a little bit of balance. We're going as a bowling team and we're not asking for the ball to be changed. But the ball was changed on the umpire's accord."

"What reason -- I did ask the umpire but he said we can change it.

"So I hope every time there's dew they can change it -- every single time going forward in this IPL. You can do whatever you want but you need to be standard," Ashwin had said.

Now on top of the points table with six points from four matches, Rajasthan's next outing in IPL 2023 will be against defending champions Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.