There was more pain in store for the Indian team following defeat in the first ODI against New Zealand on Wednesday with the entire team fined 80 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over rate in Hamilton.
The International Cricket Council decided to impose the fine after Virat Kohli's team was deemed to be "four overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration".
Kohli pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the sanction. According to the rules, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fees for every over short of the target.
This was the third straight match in which the Indian team failed to maintain their over rate. In the fourth T20 against the Kiwis in Wellington, India were fined 40 per cent of their match fee for their over rate offence. They failed to learn from their mistake and were slapped with a 20 per cent fine in the fifth and final T20.
What makes India's 'hat-trick' unique is that they had gone nearly six years without committing an over-rate offence. And now, they have erred three times in as many matches.
It was a tough day all round for India but captain Kohli said New Zealand deserved their win. "We didn't grab on to one chance, but we were decent. Today, the opposition played better than us and they deserved to win,” Kohli said.
