The International Cricket Council (ICC) today imposed a two-match suspension on captain Sourav Ganguly, ensuring he sits out during the two-match Test series against South Africa starting November 20.Clive Lloyd, the ICC match referee at India’s ODI against Pakistan in Kolkata yesterday, docked the Indian skipper for slow over-rate. Though the Indian cricket board has appealed to the ICC, it appears that Lloyd has gone by the book. The ICC rule — circulated to all teams and captains — clearly states that the fielding captain would be suspended for two Tests if the team falls short by five or more overs in the stipulated time. On Saturday, the Indians were 10 overs short at the cut-off time of 10.15 pm. Ganguly seemed disappointed by the suspension as missing the South African series would mean sitting out for four Tests in a row (he missed the last two Tests against Australia because of injury). ‘‘What can I say? I have to go by the verdict of the match referee,’’ was all he would say when The Indian Express contacted him. Sources say that keeping in mind the time consumed due to injuries to players, ball changes and drying the wet ball, umpires Simon Taufel and K Hariharan gave the Indian skipper 22 extra minutes to complete the quota of overs. But the Indians took about one hour to reach the 49th over, the point at which Pakistan won the match. Besides, television cameras suggest that the two umpires had reminded the Indian skipper eight to nine times about the slow over-rate and the impending suspension. The reason for the slow over-rate, according to sources, had been the constant field changes and the spinners — Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag — taking four-five minutes to complete their overs. Vijay Chopra, an international umpire, does not see anything wrong in the ICC decision: ‘‘I don’t see anything wrong. One must draw a line somewhere,’’ Chopra said. Meanwhile, the BCCI’s sequence of showdowns with the ICC over a match referee’s decision has just seen a fresh chapter being opened. Secretary SK Nair said, ‘‘this is just not acceptable to us, we will certainly appeal.’’
