Jadeja fined for finger ointment

NAGPUR:Indian man-of-the-match Ravindra Jadeja will be fined a quarter of his first Test match fee for breaking protocol to self-treat a finger injury

while bowling against Australia, administrators said Saturday.

The all-rounder led India’s crushing innings victory with figures of 5-47 on Thursday and 70 runs including a crucial partnership with skipper Rohit Sharma to help dispatch the tourists inside three days. But images from Nagpur stadium had shown Jadeja rubbing a mystery substance on the index finger of his bowling hand during the first day, raising the spectre of possible ball-tampering.

The International Cricket Council said the match referee was satisfied the cream was “applied to the finger purely for medical purposes” to reduce swelling.

It nonetheless said Jadeja had breached its code of conduct by not “asking for permission to do so from the on-field umpires”.

Jadeja “admitted the offence and accepted the sanction”, the ICC said in a statement.

“The cream was not applied as an artificial substance to the ball and consequently it did not change the condition of the ball,” it added. The Nagpur Test was the first for the world’s top-rated all-rounder after returning from a career-threatening knee injury.