ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Wahab Riaz, Shane Watson fined for misbehavior in Australia-Pakistan quarter-final clash

It’s a known fact that Australia and Pakistan are two cricketing sides which possess immense skills when it comes to ‘sledging’. So it was expected that when they clash, some sparks were surely in store. The Australia-Pakistan quarter-final witnessed some funny banter and some heated fracas between the players at Adelaide.

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The most notable of all was of Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz and Australia’s Shane Watson’s tussle. But the brawl saw Wahab fined 50 percent of his match fee while Watson was penalised 15 percent. The Pakistani pacer was charged with using vulgar language while Watson was accused of behaviour opposing to the spirit of the game.

“The incident happened in the 33rd over of Australia’s innings when Watson ignored the umpires’ instructions and verbally engaged with Wahab, who, at the end of the over, followed through towards the batsman and used aggressive and abusive language,” said International Cricket Council (ICC) in a report from Cricketcountry.com.

“Both the players admitted the offences and accepted the sanctions and, as such, there was no need for a formal hearing,” ICC added.

“It was an enthralling contest between Shane and Wahab, but in the closing stages of the match both players crossed that fine line between intense competition and unacceptable behaviour, and this resulted in the sanctions,” Match referee Ranjan Madugalle said.

The banter was a funny one though which saw speedster Wahab clapping after bowling Shane Watson. The ‘infamous love’ ended when Wahab finally gave a flying kiss to disgusted Watson, who struggled against him.

Watson had the final laugh as he steered Australia to a six-wicket victory and his team will now face defending champions India in the semi-finals at Sydney on Thursday.