NEW DELHI: India pacer Khaleel Ahmed received an official warning and one demerit point after he was found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct during the fourth ODI against the Windies on Monday (October 29). Ahmed was found to have violated Article 2.5 of the Code, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during an international match”, stated an ICC release. The incident for which he was charged took place in the 14th over, when he advanced aggressively towards Marlon Samuels after getting him to edge one to Rohit Sharma in the slips. After the match, Ahmed admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Chris Broad, the match referee. The charge was levelled by on-field umpires Ian Gould and Anil Chaudhary, third umpire Paul Wilson, and the fourth umpire C Shamshuddin. The pacer’s excessive appealing during the match earned both him and skipper Virat Kohli a talking to from the umpires. For his part, Ahmed admitted after the match that he appealed loudly so as to make the batsmen nervous. “I like to appeal a lot mostly out of excitement but also because that makes the batsman uncomfortable, even if I can’t get a wicket,” he said in an interaction with the broadcasters after the match. India won the fourth ODI by 224 runs in Mumbai and lead the five-match series 2-1. Ahmed ended the match with figures of 3/13. Published in Daily Times, October 31st 2018.