Following a tense on-field face-off during the final of the Men's T20 World Cup 2026 in Ahmedabad on Sunday, Indian fast bowler Arshdeep Singh was penalised by the ICC for breaching the Code of Conduct during the title clash against New Zealand. The ICC imposed a fine of 15 percent of his match fee for a Level 1 offence. The controversy unfolded in the 11th over of New Zealand’s innings.
While fielding the ball in his follow-through, Arshdeep threw it back toward the striker’s end, where New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell was standing. The throw accidentally struck Mitchell on the pads, triggering immediate frustration from the Kiwi batter. Mitchell reacted strongly to the incident and moved toward Arshdeep in anger, creating a tense moment on the field.
However, the situation was pacified by following the intervention from India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav and on-field umpires. At that time, Arshdeep appeared unfazed, walking back to his run-up. However, after the match concluded and India celebrated their T20 World Cup win, Arshdeep approached Mitchell, shook hands and offered an apology for the earlier incident. Meanwhile, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir said that he would not have been concerned even if the apology had not been made.
“That is ok. You are representing your country. You are bound to show aggression. If you throw back, what is wrong with that? No bowler likes getting hit for two sixes. And that is the kind of response I want to see from my players. There is nothing wrong. Even if he hadn’t said sorry, I was absolutely fine with it. He doesn’t need to say sorry,” Gambhir told ANI.
“Yes, it’s good on him that he apologised, but on the cricket field, there are no friends or enemies. Your job is to represent your country, win for your country. These things used to happen earlier, too. But in the era of social media, things escalate, for which, I think, there’s no need," he said.
Talking about the final match, India had romped to a big win, beating New Zealand by 96 runs. Defending a total of 255, India bowled New Zealand out for 159 in 19 overs, with Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel taking four and three wickets, respectively.