Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan has been fined INR 12 lakh for maintaining a slow over-rate during the contest against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Morgan has become the third captain after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma to face the penalty for the slow-over rate in the ongoing fourteenth season of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
It was Morgan’s first over-rate offence this season, and the subsequent over-rate violations might attract a much bigger penalty.
As per IPL guidelines, the captain of any team which fails to maintain the over-rate is fined INR 12 lakh on the first instance. While on the second case, the fine is doubled to INR 24 lakh for the captain while every other member of the playing XI is fined 25 per cent of the match fee or INR 6 lakh – whichever is lesser.
When it comes to a captain committing such offence for the third time in a season, a fine of INR 30 lakh is imposed on him, and he may also have to serve a one-match ban. Whereas the remaining team members of the playing XI are charged with a fine of INR 12 lakh or 50 per cent of the match fee – whichever is lesser. These same sanctions apply to any subsequent wrongdoings.
Speaking about the Wednesday night fixture, KKR faced an 18-run defeat in a high-scoring encounter. After Morgan asked CSK to bat first, the decision did not go in his favour as Dhoni and Co. made full use of the pitch and posted a massive 220/3 on the scoreboard.
The opening pair of Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad completely demolished KKR bowlers all around the ground. While du Plessis missed out on scoring a ton by five runs only, Gaikwad played another vital knock of 64 runs.
In reply, the Knight Riders did not start well as they lost five wickets for just 31 runs. However, then the likes of Dinesh Karthik (40), Andre Russell (54) and Pat Cummins (66 no) changed the course of the match and almost pulled off a memorable victory. KKR ended up making 202 before being bundled out in the final over, losing the contest by 18 runs.
