Riyan Parag, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain, has been fined 25% of his match fee and handed one demerit point after being caught using a vape inside the dressing room during RR's IPL 2026 game against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in New Chandigarh on Tuesday.
Parag "was found to have breached Article 2.21 of the IPL's Code of Conduct, which relates to conduct that brings the game into disrepute," a BCCI statement on Thursday said. The incident took place during RR's chase of PBKS' 222, which they managed with four balls in hand. Parag "admitted to the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by the match referee, Amit Sharma".
Significantly, the BCCI said it was "exploring other options to initiate proceedings for stringent action against the erring team, its officials and player/s to ensure that the reputation of IPL remains intact".
The infringement on Parag's part came less than two weeks after RR team manager Romi Bhinder had been fined INR 1 lakh after being caught using his mobile phone in the team dugout during the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 10 in Guwahati.
Bhinder told the IPL's anti-corruption unit that the breach, in contravention of Article 4.1.1 of IPL players' and match officials' area protocols, was inadvertent. Bhinder admitted to the offence and offered an unconditional apology. A media release later said that Bhinder had been "warned to exercise greater care in the future and to adhere strictly to the established guidelines".
The incident came to light when pictures of Bhinder on his phone with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi next to him were put up on social media after the match. The same was the case with Parag, whose pictures appeared on social media not long after the game against PBKS.
