The Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Monday became the first cricket team to receive a red card as one of its players was penalized for slow overs-rate in a match, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The organizers of the league introduced a slew of measures to tackle the problem of slow-over rates in this season one of which was including a red card for the fielding side found to be behind schedule at the start of the final over of an inning.

https://twitter.com/CPL/status/1695969119659495757?s=20

The sanction means a team loses a player selected by the captain and must have six fielders inside the circle. Due to the penalty, the Knight Riders were left with 10 men for the final over in their match against the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots but still managed to succeed by six wickets. It was the Knight Rider’s first victory in three matches.

The issue of slow over-rates had plagued the game, with matches often spilling over their specified time. International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced fines for international teams found behind schedule in all formats. Deduction of World Test Championship points was also included in the introduced penalties.

Sunil Narine completed his quota of four overs, with figures of 24-3, before he was withdrawn for the final over of the Patriots’ innings, which yielded 18 runs.

Nicholas Pooran’s 61 off 32 balls laid the foundation for the Knight Riders’ successful chase before captain Kieron Pollard (37) and Andre Russell (23) took them home with 17 balls remaining at Warner Park in Basseterre.

Kieron Pollard of the penalized team was upset with the overs-rate penalty.

He said “To be honest, it will take away the hard work everyone has done, we are like the pawns and we are going to do what we are told. We are going to play as fast as we can. If you are penalized for 30-45 seconds in a tournament like this, it is absolutely ridiculous.”