Reporting snapshot · 28 October 2026 (Asia/Karachi). Both men admitted their offences, so the sanctions are settled and no disciplinary hearing will follow. What is not settled is how the two suspension points that Rauf's five demerit points convert into will be applied, and whether they reach the tri-series final on 31 October.
What the ICC decided
On Wednesday 28 October the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that Pakistan’s fast bowler Haris Rauf had been reprimanded and fined 20 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel during the one-day international tri-series match against England in Lahore on Sunday 25 October. The ICC set out the decision in its media release, which states that Rauf breached Article 2.20, covering “displaying conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”, and that one demerit point was added to his disciplinary record, taking his tally to five. The release notes that this was his third offence inside a 24-month period.
Al Jazeera reported the same sanctions and the same account of the incident: at the end of the 46th over, with Rauf at the non-striker’s end, he appealed for a wide and then argued with England all-rounder Will Jacks, raising his bat and continuing the exchange despite a warning from umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, and brushing past the umpire as he walked towards Jacks. Dawn’s report adds that Rauf’s stand of seven from 19 balls, shared with Shadab Khan’s unbeaten century, had decided the match, The Express Tribune led with the two penalties, and Geo News listed the officials who brought the charges.
The charges were levelled by on-field umpires Rashid Riaz and Sharfuddoula, with third umpire Wayne Knights and fourth umpire Nassir Hussain, and the sanctions were proposed by Jeff Crowe of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees. Rauf and England captain Harry Brook both admitted their offences and accepted the proposals, so no formal hearing was required, the ICC said.
What the code says, and what England was charged
England’s penalty is the simpler half. The visitors were fined 15 per cent of their match fee for a slow over-rate, having been found three overs short of the required rate once time allowances were taken into account. Article 2.22, which covers minimum over-rate offences, charges players five per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl within the allotted time, according to the ICC’s release. Geo News reported the same three-over shortfall.
Rauf’s case is the one the code treats cumulatively. The notes to editors attached to the ICC’s release state that when a player reaches four or more demerit points within a 24-month period, those points “are converted into two suspension points, which equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is”. A second note says that eight or more points convert into four suspension points, and that demerit points remain on a record for 24 months from the moment they are imposed, after which they are expunged. Rauf stands on five points, so his record sits above the four-point threshold. That conversion appears in the ICC’s own notes; it is not explained in the summaries published by Dawn, Al Jazeera, Geo News or The Express Tribune.
What it means for Pakistan’s attack
The decision came a day after Pakistan had already lost to Sri Lanka at the Gaddafi Stadium, Geo News reported that Rauf was bowled for one by Dilshan Madushanka in the 110-all-out defeat that put Sri Lanka into the final, a result KhabarWire recorded. Whether Rauf is available on 31 October is therefore the question the ruling leaves open.
The wider context matters too. Rauf had been part of the attack that beat England by 87 runs at Rawalpindi on 20 October, taking two for 32 in a match in which the left-arm spinner Arafat Minhas took six for 40, and he shared an unbeaten 89-run stand with Shadab Khan for the last wicket in Lahore. The ICC’s news item on the sanction records that the win sealed Pakistan’s place in the final against Sri Lanka on 31 October. The squad changes that followed the England defeat were reported on 26 October, which also noted that the tri-series is part of the three teams’ preparation for next year’s ODI World Cup. KhabarWire tracks the campaign in its Pakistan Cricket hub.
What is still uncertain
Three things are unresolved. First, the release does not say when the two suspension points will be applied. It announces a reprimand, a fine and a demerit point, and it announces no match ban and no date for one. Second, the release does not list the two earlier offences that had already placed four points on his record, and the 24-month window on those points is still running, so the tally can only move upward. Third, the ICC’s own pages disagree on the numbering of the article he breached: the media release cites Article 2.20, while the ICC’s news item on the same sanction cites Article 2.2, and Dawn reported Article 2.20. The sanction itself is not in doubt; only the reference number is.
