The International Cricket Council (ICC) upheld the one-Test ban slapped on Gautam Gambhir for elbowing Australian all-rounder Shane Watson on Tuesday evening, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) immediately responded by saying that the decision was unfair and that a proper hearing should have been conducted.With the fourth and final Test scheduled to begin in Nagpur on Thursday, though, the Indian selectors drafted in a surprise replacement for the opener, pitch-forking Tamil Nadu’s M Vijay into the big league.Gambhir’s absence will be a big blow for India. The opener leads the run-scoring charts in teh series with 463 runs in five innings so far, with one double hundred, one century and a half-century.He has adapted to different situations the team have found themselves in, and repeatedly thwarted the Aussie attack with some gritty cricket. Along with Virender Sehwag, he has provided India with solid starts — the one big difference between the two sides — and his unavailability may well change the balance of the final Test considerably.It’s unlikely that BCCI’s complaint will have any immediate effect on the ICC. “I am prepared to accept that he (Gambhir) had been the victim of prolonged and persistent verbal abuse by members of the Australian team, culminating in a moment of anger that led to his unfortunate lapse,” Justice Albie Sachs, appointed by the ICC to hear the appeal, was quoted as saying in an ICC release. “(But) deliberate collision can never be condoned, however grave the provocation.“Accordingly, while not without sympathy for Gautam Gambhir, I cannot find that the penalty imposed on him is so disproportionately severe that I should intervene. He concedes that what he did was unacceptable,” he added.But the BCCI shot off a letter saying the decision was contrary to the spirit of justice as the player should have been heard. In the letter sent to ICC chief David Morgan, the board has said the order “seems to be pre-decided as the same has been passed without affording the player an opportunity of a personal hearing.”But the ICC, while accepting that they received the letter, said that the decision was final. “Although we have received an objection letter from the BCCI, there is nothing more that we can do as the appeal commissioner’s decision is a final and binding decision,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive, said.Meanwhile a national selector, on the condition of anonymity, defended the choice of M Vijay as replacement, saying the batsman was in form. “He scored in the Challengers and is coming off a double hundred for Chennai against Maharashtra,” he said. Vijay is currently playing the Ranji game in Maharashtra, which gets over only on Thursday. Tamil Nadu will not be affected greatly as it’s unlikely they’ll have to bat a second time after posting 648 for three declared in the first innings.
