Eyes on ODIs as Dhoni lands; Vijay leaves with a fine over logo

India’s Test players left Dhaka on Monday after a moral victory against Bangladesh but the departure was slightly soured when opening batsman Murali Vijay was fined 25% of his match fees by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for flouting logo regulations on his bat.

India’s Test players left Dhaka on Monday after a moral victory against Bangladesh but the departure was slightly soured when opening batsman Murali Vijay was fined 25% of his match fees by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for flouting logo regulations on his bat.

Although-Murali-Vijay-s-bat-helped-India-get-to-a-strong-total-it-put-him-in-the-dock-The-logo-circled-flouted-the-rules-AFP-Photo

Vijay had scored 150 in India’s first innings, allowing the visitors to declare 462/6 overnight on Day 4.

“According to the new ICC rules, length of the sponsors’ logo can’t be more than nine inches. But it was found that Vijay’s bat flouted the rule,” said a team official.

Apart from the logo of his main sponsor, Vijay’s bat had a smaller logo just below that. According to a team official, the ICC objected to that.

“Vijay was told that his bat didn’t conform to ICC rules and was penalised 25% of his match fees. He accepted the decision,” said the official.

Bat sponsorships normally range anything from Rs 2 crore to up to Rs 10 crore or more. Vijay’s bat sports an SS logo but there is also a small MVJ8 logo beneath it.

Apparently, Vijay had used a similar logo during the Australia tour where he was very successful. Interestingly, Vijay’s Twitter handle is called @mvj888 while his Instagram account is MVJ8.

The penalty wasn’t the most ideal end to the Test but with the players set to leave for India on Monday, team director Ravi Shastri wanted the entire team to celebrate the ‘moral victory’ of enforcing a follow-on on Bangladesh despite an unfavourable draw. The team went to an upmarket joint at Gulshan and came back around 11pm.

On Monday, the Test players left in batches. Ishant Sharma and Karn Sharma left in the morning, Harbhajan Singh, Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara left a few hours after that while Wriddhiman Saha and Varun Aaron were the last to leave the hotel.

Led by captain MS Dhoni, seven ODI players — Suresh Raina, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawal Kulkarni, Stuart Binny and Mohit Sharma — arrived around 6pm. Among the Test players, only Ajinkya Rahane came down to greet Dhoni & Co. Apart from Sunday’s dinner, the team has refrained from venturing outside so far.

With the action shifting to Mirpur now, the team would have an easier time commuting.