Gambhir8217;s one-Test ban upheld, to miss Nagpur Test

8220;Cricket is not a contact sport. Small collisions can lead to big ones8230; Deliberate collision can never be condoned, however grave the provocation,8221; said Justice Sachs, a senior Judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, in a statement from ICC Headquarters in Dubai.

Sachs was given a week8217;s time by the ICC to go into Gambhir8217;s appeal against the ban slapped on him by Match Referee Chris Broad for elbowing Shane Watson during the third Test in New Delhi last week.

Attacking the verdict as unacceptable, the Indian Cricket Board immediately shot off a letter to ICC President David Morgan that the order of the Appeals Commissioner 8220;seems to be pre-decided as the same has been passed without affording the player an opportunity of a personal hearing8221;.

But Sachs said the right to be heard in terms of natural justice does not necessarily imply the right to an oral hearing and that he had already pleaded guilty to the charge of elbowing Watson.