West Indies batsman Nicholas Pooran has been found guilty of ball tampering and been banned for the upcoming T20I series against Afghanistan.

The 24-year-old accepted the charge and the punishment, stating that it was an error in judgement on his behalf.

During the third ODI against Afghanistan at Lucknow this week, Pooran violated the Article 2.14 of the ICC code of conduct as he was seen “changing the condition of the ball” by scratching the surface of the ball with his thumbnail.

Image – Twitter

“I want to issue a sincere apology to my teammates, supporters and the Afghanistan team for what transpired on the field of play on Monday in Lucknow,” Pooran said. “I recognise that I made an extreme error in judgement and I fully accept the ICC penalty. I want to assure everyone that this is an isolated incident and it will not be repeated. I promise to learn from this and come back stronger and wiser.”

The big-hitting batsman will miss the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan that commences on Thursday  and the first match of the series against India that begins next month.

The earliest possible return for Pooran will be for the second T20I against India, on December 8 in Thiruvananthapuram.