The ICC on Wednesday penalised Indian pacer Ishant Sharma and Pakistan batsman Kamran Akmal for an altercation during the opening Twenty20 International between the arch-rivals in Bangalore.

While Akmal was penalised five per cent of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to breaches of Article 2.1.8 of the ICC Code of Conduct, Ishant was docked 15 per cent of his match fee for the incident.

In the 18th over of Pakistan's chase of 134, which they eventually pulled off by five wickets with two balls remaining, Ishant and Akmal had confrontation in the middle of the pitch. It needed the umpires, and team-mates, to intervene and separate the two. After reviewing the evidence and the video footage, match referee Roshan Mahanama confirmed that Ishant had initiated the incident, which was reported by all four umpires. Thus, a penalty of 15 per cent of the match fee was imposed on him.

"The game was played in the true spirit till this incident was initiated by Ishant, who is an experienced cricketer, which led to the umpires and his team mates having to intervene," Mahanama said in a statement.