Pakistan captain Fatima Sana punished for controversial celebration

Pakistan women's cricket team captain Fatima Sana has been punished for her controversial celebration during the Women's T20 Asia Cup match against India. She has been fined 10 percent of her match fee and given a demerit point on her disciplinary record.

The incident took place during the India-Pakistan match in Dubai last Saturday. Opener Shafali Verma handed over the catch to Fatima Sana in the second over of India's innings. The Pakistan captain gestured to Shafali to go towards the pavilion during the celebration after taking a wicket.

Sana was charged with breaching Article 2.5 of the ICC Code of Conduct for this behaviour. The article prohibits provoking or making disrespectful gestures to an opposing batsman after he is dismissed.

This is Fatima Sana's second code of conduct violation in the last 24 months. This new punishment brings her total to two demerit points on her disciplinary record.

Fatima Sana admitted her mistake to on-field umpires Nimali Perera and Sathira Zakir Jessi and match referee Supriya Rani Das. As a result, no separate formal hearing was required in the incident.

However, Pakistan's performance in the match was disappointing. They were all out for just 55 runs. For India, Sri Charani and Prema Rawat took three wickets each, while Deepti Sharma took two.

Chasing an easy target, India won by 7 wickets. Fatima Sana took all three of India's wickets for Pakistan.

With this win, India secured a semi-final berth by becoming the group winners. On the other hand, Pakistan will face Hong Kong in the final match of the group stage today.