AFG vs WI | Nicholas Pooran handed four-T20I ban for ball tampering

The Windies keeper-batsman has been found guilty of attempting to tamper the ball, during the final ODI of the series on Monday (November 11), and has been handed a ban for four T20Is by the International Council for Cricket. The punishment is coupled with five demerit points for Pooran. The penalty by the global ensured that he is ruled out of the T20I series against the Afghans.

Pooran has been charged with a breach of level 3 of the ICC's Code of Conduct and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad. He had violated Article 2.14 of the code, which relates to "changing the condition of the ball" after video footage showed him scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Bismillah Shinwari and Ahmed Durrani and third umpire Ahmed Pakteen as well as fourth umpire Izatullah Safi.

"I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow," ESPNCricinfo quoted Pooran. "I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser."