England’s thrilling 22-run win over India at Lord’s was followed by a setback, as the ICC docked them two points for a slow over rate. However, former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes the penalty won’t hurt England much as long as they stay focused on winning matches.The ICC announced on Wednesday that England had been fined 10% of their match fee and lost two points in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings. Their total dropped from 24 to 22 points, with their percentage falling from 66.67% to 61.11%. As a result, England slipped to third place on the table, with Sri Lanka moving up to second behind Australia.Shastri pointed out how Australia paid the price for a similar mistake in the first WTC cycle. “It hurts as Australia found out in the first cycle of the World Test Championship. They had a slow over rate against India and it cost them the second place and Zealand qualified for that final. So you’ve got to be fully aware about all this. There’ll be certain games where they’ll probably make up for it,” Shastri said in a video posted on ICC’s Instagram handle.
He added that the key for England is to focus on winning games. “But I think more than the over rate, you have to think of winning. If you focus on winning, then come the last six months, you can probably try and adjust, see how you can get those two points back or something of that sort. But you’ve got to win, that’s more important.” “That won’t matter,” said the veteran, but maintained that the only thing England have to be bothered about is to keep winning games.
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Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan questioned why only England were penalised for slow over rates when both teams were at fault. “How only one team was reprimanded is beyond me,” Vaughan wrote on XIndia and England will face off again in the fourth Test starting July 23 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester.
