The West Indies and Trinbago Knight Riders mystery tweaker became the first player to be asked to leave the cricket field for an over-rate breach.
Sunil Narine wouldn’t have liked being part of history in this fashion as he emerged as the first player ever to be handed the ‘red card’ by the standing umpire in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The West Indies and Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) mystery tweaker got told to leave the playing arena by skipper Kieron Pollard, who had no option but to reset his field with just ten fielders.
Narine became a direct casualty of TKR’s over-rate breach after captain Pollard was given a strict directive by the umpire to operate with a fielder less since his team had failed to start the 20th over on the stipulated time.
Keeping in mind the difficulty of managing the game with 10 fielders, Pollard decided to remove his slowest mover across the outfield after the umpire showed his team the ‘red card’ in a first in the history of T20 cricket.
As per the revised playing conditions for CPL 2023, Pollard and TKR could also field just two players outside the 30-yard circle, which made it significantly easy for their opposition St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots to fetch the boundaries for the 20th over.
The severe in-game penalty is part of the overall revised set of conditions in which CPL 2023 matches are being played after the tournament authorities acted strictly upon observing the number of previous year’s over-rate breaches, with games taking an excess amount of time in both men’s and the women’s event.
CPL bowling teams must complete the 17th over of their innings by 72 minutes & 15 seconds, the 18th over by 76 minutes & 30 seconds, and the 19th by 80 minutes & 45 seconds. The 20th over is supposed to end within 85 minutes.
Failure to start the 18th over on time makes a team liable to receive the first penalty – one extra fielder will have to be brought inside the circle. A following breach with the 19th over will see a doubling down of the earlier rule: two extra fielders inside the 30-yard circle, making it six inside the ring.
Lastly, if a team is unable to start the 20th over on required point, the captain will have to remove one fielder entirely and have as many as nine fielders inside the 30-yard.
SENT OFF! The 1st ever red card in CPL history. Sunil Narine gets his marching orders 🚨 #CPL23 #SKNPvTKR #RedCard #CricketPlayedLouder #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/YU1NqdOgEX
— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 28, 2023
Since TKR’s breach was the worst of the lot, Pollard had to pay the heavier in-game prize by operating with just two fielders as boundary riders for the critical 20th over, which was smashed for 18 runs by the Patriots.
Pollard would be grateful, then, the cost of their over-rate breach wasn’t an important league stage defeat as TKR still came out triumphant by six wickets following an excellent batting effort.
