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Ravi Shastri pinches Ben Stokes after England captain ‘pleads guilty’ and accepts ICC's punishment for slow over rate
Ravi Shastri criticised England's slow over rate, which resulted in two World Test Championship points being deducted and players being fined.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri pinched England captain Ben Stokes after he accepted ICC's sanctions on England for maintaining a slow over rate in the third Test against India at Lord's. England were docked two World Test Championship points and each player was slapped with a fine of 10 percent from their match fees for their slow over rate in the third Test match at Lord's. Stokes pleaded guilty and accepted the sanctions without a formal hearing.
Shastri said it should hurt England, as it was the same thing that prevented Australia from competing in the inaugural WTC final against India.
"It hurts, as Australia found out in the first cycle of WTC. They had a slower over rate against India and it cost them the second place. New Zealand qualified for that final. You've got to be fully aware of all this," Shastri told ICC.
Notably, this is not the first time England were docked WTC points. They were the team to lose most points in the previous cycle of WTC due to slow over rate and hence, were never really in contention to qualify for the final. Currently England are third on the WTC points table behind Sri Lanka and Australia.
Shastri said if Stokes can inspire his team to keep winning matches like he did at Lord's with a Player of the Match performance, then they would not need to worry about the over rate.
"There will be certain games where they will probably make up for it but I think more than that, more than the over rate, you have to think of winning. If you focus on winning, in the last six months, you can probably try to adjust. See how you would get those two points back. But, you've got to win. That's more important. If you keep winning, that won't matter," he added.
Why was England fined for a slow over rate?
The hosts went 2-1 up in the five-test series with a thrilling 22-run victory but were found two overs short of target in a match where the Dukes ball went out of shape several times and had to be replaced.
"England captain Ben Stokes pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing," the International Cricket Council said in a statement.
Players lose 5% of their match fees for every over their team fails to bowl in the allotted time. It also costs the team one WTC point.
England slipped from second to third in the WTC standings behind Sri Lanka following the points deduction. Australia, who completed a 3-0 sweep of West Indies earlier this week, lead the standings in the new 2025-2027 cycle.
