Sydney:The International Cricket Council's (ICC) chief executive officer David Richardson Tuesday warned players that their failure to follow the governing body's Code of Conduct during the World Cup would result in severe punishments.

A usually calm Ishant Sharma lost his cool when he got into a nasty war or words with Pakistan keeper-batsman Kamran Akmal during the Indo-Pak clash in Bangalore in December 2012. As they hurled abuses at each other in the middle of the pitch, the umpires and few teammates had to try and separate the two. File Pic