Maharashtra batter Ankit Bawne has been handed a one-match suspension for dissent. The decision was communicated to the team ahead of the side's Ranji Trophy sixth round Group A fixture against Baroda in Nashik.
Bawne's refusal to leave the field after being given out in their fifth-round game against Services, prior to the white-ball season, created a flutter, even though there appeared to be conclusive evidence that the ball had bounced before Shubham Rohilla completed the catch at slip off left-arm spinner Amit Shukla.
Bawne, who was the stand-in captain in that game, couldn't opt to review the decision as the match was only on a livestream and not televised, which meant there was no infrastructure for DRS to be in place. His refusal to leave the field led to play being suspended for nearly 15 minutes, before the game resumed upon the intervention of match referee Amit Sharma and Maharashtra coach Sulakshan Kulkarni.
After the incident, Kulkarni had lashed out at the umpiring standards in domestic cricket. "Players are subject to fines and reprimand, what about proper assessment of umpires," he had said. "Why do the same erring umpires continue to officiate and play spoilsport? When there are blunders of this nature, the anger is justified."
At the time, Maharashtra's regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, too, had posted replays of the dismissal. Gaikwad was playing for India A in Australia at the time.
Bawne has been Maharashtra's leading run-scorer this season, with 361 runs from five matches at an average of 51.57. He has scored one century and two fifties.
Maharashtra are second from bottom in Group A and are already out of the reckoning for a playoff berth as they can reach a maximum of 22 points. As things stand, there are already two teams in the pool - Baroda and J&K - with more points.