Pitch tampering: TN, Delhi banned from Ranji Trophy

The tournament committee was called to arbitrate on the dispute between Delhi and Tamil Nadu following the abandonment of their Group B Ranji Super League match at Chennai on the third day of the February 14-17 encounter. The match was abandoned owing to Delhi’s refusal to play after skipper Ajay Sharma took objection to the presence of some footmarks on the pitch, apparently caused by boot spikes. The controversy erupted when Sharma pointed out the tampering of the pitch when the two umpires fromNagpur DK Kar and PS Godbole were busy changing the ball during a halt in the proceedings. Sharma refused to continue the match any further alleging the pitch had been tampered, resulting in the abandonment of the game.

The BCCI explanation on their judgement released by Lele is as follows:

"After having long deliberations regarding the Super League Ranji match between Tamil Nadu Cricket Association and Delhi & District Cricket Association played at Chennai when play was stopped on third afternoon, the committee reviewed the reports of Match Referee, PR Panjabi, Technical Committee member of BCCI, VV Kumar, the umpires and the laws of cricket position explained by DN Dotiwala, the Committee unanimously decided as under:"

"Both the teams, Tamil Nadu and Delhi be suspended for the Rest of the Ranji Trophy tournament for the year 1997-98 for bringing the game into disrepute."

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar, a member of the BCCI technical committee alongwith match referee for the controversial tiePanjabi and former international umpire Dara Dotiwala besides representatives of the cricket associations of Bengal, Saurashtra, Rajasthan and Goa were also present during the meeting.

The suspension of the two teams means there would be a three-way contest for the two knock-out berths from Group B, which features Bengal, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Interestingly, both Delhi and TN had made strong claims to the BCCI to award the match to them. However, both the associations’ points of view were not acceptable to the BCCI’s tournament committee which felt such a punishment was necessary in order to deter similar incidents in the future, according to Lele.

Very disappointing: Robin

CHENNAI: Robin Singh, the Tamil Nadu captain was to take the 6.30 p.m. flight to Calcutta today to join the squad for the game against Bengal from Feb 23. "Will it affect me? Can I represent the country?," was his initial reaction when told of the sensational development.

"It is very disappointing. It isvery sad. I wasn’t there on the field. I am quite upset with the whole thing," said Robin.

Woorkeri Raman, the former Test star, was to travel with Robin on the same flight. "It is very unfair," said Raman, who injured his thumb and was not on the field when the incident happened. "I feel it is a bit too strong. They should have considered it as an unfinished match and reprimanded both the teams. Else, they should have given both the teams two points each and fined both the associations."

Raman was critical of the role played by the umpires and match referee. "The umpires handled the episode badly," he said and asked indignantly,"How can you blame the entire team?"

Former TNCA secretary and Test stumper Bharath Reddy said cricket was never played like this. "I think, it is the worst thing to have happened in the annals of Indian cricket. What levels cricket has come to?. The TNCA and DDCA should have an impartial and fair enquiry, and the guilty brought to book. The umpires now have an extraresponsibility of being vigilant to tamperers," he said.

Unfair action: Brijesh

BANGALORE: Brijesh Patel vociferously disagreed with the decision.

"Why should Delhi be banned? They (the Board) have to take action against the erring side. Why should Ajay Sharma (the Delhi captain) be penalised for no mistake. It is very obvious that the tampering was done by a Tamil Nadu player. They should have conducted an enquiry to find out who the mischievous TN player was and banned him. At the least, they should have banned Tamil Nadu." he said.

Former chairman of selection committee, GR Vishwanath said: "It is rather unfortunate for the development of the game as such. First, a one-dayer was abandoned, then a Test was abandoned. Now, this incident. It all certainly does not contribute to the name of the game."

Bad for the game: Yadav

HYDERABAD: National selector Shivlal Yadav said the decision was bad for the game. Yadav said it was unfortunate that the teams were suspended at atime when a big series against Australia and the triangular one-day tournament is just round the corner.

"Teams made scapegoats"

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Cricket Association (DDCA) today expressed "shock" over the BCCI decision. The DDCA sports secretary, Sunil Dev, felt the BCCI tournament committee "in all wise move, has made both teams scapegoats," and said having conceded the pitch had indeed been tampered with, action should have been against one team.

Dev wondered why match referee Panjabi should have consulted BCCI when he was empowered to decide then and there. The fact that he decided to suspend play on the third day evening showed there was tampering. "Is everybody working with a remote control in BCCI" he asked.