India cricket team manager Vinod Phadke has been fined with 40 per cent of his match fee after the former was found guilty of making inappropriate comments about umpire Vineet Kulkarni ahead of his side second ODI match of the five-match series against South Africa in Indore.
Phalke was found guilty of breaching Article 2.1.3 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "Public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to an incident occurring in an International Match or any Player, Player Support Personnel, Match official or team participating in any International Match".
The charge, laid by the Playing Control Team, was related to comments made by Phadke in a website interview about Vineet Kulkarni, a member of the International Panel of ICC Umpires.
Chris Broad of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees conducted a formal hearing soon after the match to discuss about the issue.
The range of permissible sanctions for all first Level 1 offences is a warning or reprimand and the imposition of a fine of up to 50 per cent of the applicable match fee.
