BRISBANE: Australia have been fined for maintaining a slow over rate and India paceman Ishant Sharma has been found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the second Test, the ICC said on Sunday.

As punishment new skipper Steve Smith was fined 60 percent of his match fee for his team’s slow over rate in the Test, which Australia won by four wickets on Saturday.

Match referee Jeff Crowe imposed the fine after Smith’s side was ruled to be three overs short of its target when time allowances were taken into consideration.

In accordance with the ICC Code of Conduct relating to minor over-rate offences, players are fined 10 percent of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time, with the captain fined double that amount.

The other Australia players received 30 percent fines of their match fees.

The ICC said if Smith was found guilty of one more minor over-rate offence as captain in Tests over the next 12 months, he will receive a one-match suspension as per the provisions of the Code.

Sharma was fined 15 percent of his match fee for violating a section of the ICC Code of Conduct, which relates to “language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during an international match.”

Sharma was seen on the television broadcast using inappropriate words after dismissing Smith in Australia’s first innings.

Sharma admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by the match referee, the ICC said.

All Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 percent of a player’s match fee.

It is the second Test match in the current Border-Gavaskar series that has led to code of conduct sanctions.

Australia’s David Warner and India duo Shikhar Dhawan and stand-in skipper Virat Kohli were found guilty of breaching the ICC code of conduct

and handed fines for bust-ups during the stormy first Test in Adelaide.

Warner and Dhawan were fined 15 and 30 percent of their match fees respectively for their roles in a confrontation, while Kohli was also fined 30 percent of his match fee for his involvement in a separate incident shortly before the close of play on the fourth day.

Published in Dawn, December 22th, 2014