The recent Code of Conduct (COC) sanctions against Tim David and Kieron Pollard have brought attention to a rare occurrence in Indian cricket – signaling from the dugout to the batsman on the field. According to the Playing Conditions (PCs), “Signals from the dressing room must not be given.”
During the Punjab Kings-Mumbai Indians game on April 18 at Mullanpur, Tim David and Kieron Pollard, members of the Mumbai Indians team, were found guilty of breaching the IPL PCs. This breach empowered the on-field umpires to disallow a player from seeking a review. Interestingly, the player in question, Suryakumar Yadav, was not found guilty.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated that David and Pollard committed a Level 1 offence under Article 2.20 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct. Both players were fined 20 percent of their respective match fees and accepted the Match Referee’s sanction. The decision stemmed from a suo moto initiative by umpires Nand Kishore, Vineet Kulkarni, Nitin Menon (third umpire), and match referee Sanjay Verma, who reviewed television footage the next day before imposing the fine.
The sanctions were based on the relevant clause in Appendix D of the PCs, which emphasizes that signals from the dressing room must not influence on-field decisions.
During the incident, Suryakumar Yadav reviewed an Arshdeep Singh delivery off the last ball of the 15th over, prompting rival captain Sam Curran to seek clarification from the umpires regarding the 15-second time limit. BCCI sources indicate that the umpires were confident that the batsman did not act on signals from the dugout, as they allowed the review to proceed.
Despite the controversy, the delivery in question was beyond the batsman’s reach, and Suryakumar Yadav, who was positioned mainly on the leg side, failed to make contact. The Cricbuzz live commentary described the outcome as “…the original call has been changed, a marginal call going MI’s way.”
