Wanindu Hasaranga suspended for two matches after umpire outburst

Sri Lanka T20 International (T20I) captain Wanindu Hasaranga has been handed a two-match suspension and slapped with a 50% fine following his outburst against umpire Lyndon Hannibal following his team's three-run loss against Afghanistan in Dambulla on Wednesday (February 21).

Hasaranga was unhappy that a waist-high no-ball was not called against fast bowler Wafadar Momand, who was bowling to Kamindu Mendis in the final over of the match with Sri Lanka needing 11 off the last three deliveries.

"That kind of thing shouldn't happen in an international match," Hasaranga had said.

"If it had been close [to waist height], that's not a problem. But a ball that's going so high... it would have hit the batsman's head if it had gone a little higher. If you can't see that, that umpire isn't suited to international cricket. It would be much better if he did another job."

The ICC took cognisance of his comments and handed Hasaranga the aforementioned sanctions.

"Hasaranga was found guilty of breaching article 2.13 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "Personal abuse of a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire or Match Referee during an International Match," the ICC said in a statement.

The leg-spinner has now accumulated five demerit points - including three for this incident - and has therefore resulted in either for one one Test, two ODIs or T20Is. He will not be available for the first two T20Is against Bangladesh in March.

Besides Hasaranga, Afghanistan's Rahmanullah Gurbaz was hit with one demerit point and fined 15% of his match-fee for "disobeying an umpire's instruction during an international match." The wicketkeeper-batter is believed to have kept on changing the grip of the bat repeatedly despite being warned by the umpires.