Mumbai: Sanju Samson, who won the important Super-8 match against West Indies, is facing the threat of ICC action. The ICC disciplinary committee is investigating the manner in which Sanju celebrated after winning the match. There has been a debate on social media whether he could be banned before the semi-final against England.

What did Sanju Samson do?

In the 'do or die' match against West Indies, as soon as Sanju hit the winning shot, he took off his helmet in excitement and threw it on the ground. After this he was seen sitting on his knees and thanking God. According to Article 2.2 of the ICC Rules, insulting or throwing any cricket equipment (such as bat, helmet, stump) in a manner that endangers a player is a punishable offence.

The ICC considers throwing a helmet in anger or excessive joy as a 'Level 1' offence. Earlier in the World Cup, Scotland player George Munsey had also thrown his helmet in a similar manner, for which he received demerit points. Bans are generally not imposed for Level 1 crimes. In this, a maximum fine of 50% of the match fee and one or two demerit points can be given.

A player is banned only if he commits a 'Level 2' offense or repeats a Level 1 offense within 24 months and accumulates 4 demerit points. Sanju has not made any such mistake before. Therefore, according to reports, there is little possibility of him being banned for the semi-final match against England. The match referee may also take into account that Sanju did not intend to protest against the umpire's decision or cause injury to any player.

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Sanju single-handedly made India win

In this ICC T20 World Cup, Sanju Samson, who sat on the bench in most of the group stage matches, batted brilliantly against West Indies in the Super-8 and played an important role in taking India to the semi-finals. While chasing the difficult target of 196 runs to win the match, Team India faced initial setbacks. But Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 97 runs in just 50 balls and gave the team an easy victory with 4 balls remaining. Now Team India will face strong England in the semi-finals to be held on March 5.