Sharma and Akmal both pleaded guilty to their charge

India pace bowler Ishant Sharma and Pakistan wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal have both been fined for their verbal spat during the first Twenty20 International between the two arch-rivals in Bangalore.

The heated dispute occurred in the 18th over of Pakistan’s chase of 134 runs, which they completed with two balls to spare to win the match by five wickets.

Match referee Roshan Mahanama received reports from on-field umpires S Ravi and C Shamsuddin, TV umpire VA Kulkarni and fourth umpire K Srinath.

Both players pleaded guilty to the charge of “conduct contrary to the spirit to the game” and Akmal was fined five per cent of his match fee, while Sharma was fined 15 per cent since video replays suggested that he had initiated the whole argument.

Mahanama stated that both India and Pakistan should have been setting an example since this was a highly anticipated series.

“This is clearly a high profile and high-intensity series, and the players on both sides have been reminded of their responsibility,” Mahanama said. “Both players recognised their duty to set the right type of example through their on-field behaviour and they have accepted that they fell short of the level of conduct required.

“The game was played in the true spirit till this incident was initiated by Ishant, who is an experienced cricketer.”

The whole incident started after batsman Shoaib Malik was caught off a ball that was deemed too high to be a legal delivery, but it became much more intense after Sharma beat Akmal with an absolute peach of a delivery.

Sharma and Akmal both exchanged words just inches away from each other, upon where India batsman Suresh Raina tried to separate the two and defuse the situation before it got any worse.

In the next over, Akmal hit a ball straight to Sharma and, after completing the catch cleanly, the lanky India pace bowler was extremely vocal in his celebration.

Overall the limited overs series between India and Pakistan was a success and it marked the revival of bilateral ties between the two nations.