Pakistan fall to last in the World Test Championship after an 11-point over-rate penalty

Pakistan have been fined 50 per cent of their match fee and docked 11 World Test Championship points for a slow over-rate in the Edgbaston Test, dropping them to the bottom of the standings

The sanction, confirmed by the ICC on Monday, followed the third and final Test of Pakistan's tour of England, which England won to complete a 3-0 series sweep. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle found the visitors 11 overs short of the required rate once time allowances had been taken into account.

The deduction leaves Pakistan on five points from nine matches in the 2025-27 cycle, at a points percentage of 4.63, ninth of the nine sides contesting it.

It is the second over-rate penalty imposed on the side in this championship. Between them, the two sanctions have taken back 19 points of the 24 Pakistan have earned on the field.

Eleven overs short at Edgbaston

The charge was laid by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and Chris Gaffaney, third umpire Allahudien Palekar and fourth umpire Russell Warren, and dealt with under Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which covers minimum over-rate offences.

That article sets a fine of five per cent of a player's match fee for every over a side falls short, capped at 50 per cent. Eleven overs short took Pakistan straight to the ceiling.

A second provision applied alongside it. Article 16.11.2 of the World Test Championship playing conditions removes one championship point for each over not bowled, which turns a financial penalty into a competitive one.

Captain Babar Azam pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so no formal hearing was required.

A tally reduced to five points

Pakistan have played nine Tests in the cycle for two wins and seven defeats, with no draws. On the field that record is worth 24 points.

After the Edgbaston deduction they are credited with five, and a percentage of 4.63 — the only single-figure percentage in the table.

West Indies, the side immediately above them, sit on 20.83 per cent from 12 matches, so the gap Pakistan now have to close is a wide one rather than a rounding error.

The cycle runs to 2027, and every point Pakistan add from here starts from that base.

The second sanction of the cycle

Pakistan were penalised under the same article in May, after the first Test against Bangladesh at Mirpur. On that occasion they were found eight overs short, fined 40 per cent of their match fee and docked eight points.

Match referee Jeff Crowe imposed that sanction, and Shan Masood, who captained the side in Dhaka, accepted it without a hearing.

Pakistan lost that Test as well, so the points went out of a column that had little in it to begin with.

Where it leaves the table

Australia lead the championship on 80.00 per cent from 10 matches, ahead of South Africa on 75.00 from four and New Zealand on 72.22 from six.

Bangladesh are fourth on 55.56 per cent from six matches, with India fifth on 51.52 from 11.

England are sixth on 38.54 per cent from 16 matches, followed by Sri Lanka on 33.33 and West Indies on 20.83.

Over-rate penalties across the standings

Pakistan are not the only side the regulation has reduced. England carry deductions of 14 points across their 16 matches, and West Indies have lost two.

Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka have not been docked a point between them in this cycle.

Only Pakistan and England have lost more than two, and both sit in the bottom half of a table where the leaders have lost none.

Pakistan's next Test of the cycle will be their first chance to add to a tally that two over-rate sanctions have all but erased.

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