E-Paper
Ganguly to appeal against ban
The Indian skipper has decided to appeal to the ICC against the six-ODI ban slapped on him for the team's slow over rate in the Ahmedabad one-dayer.
Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has decided to appeal to the ICC against the six-ODI ban slapped on him for the team's slow over rate in the Ahmedabad one-dayer against Pakistan on Tuesday.
"Ganguly has decided to appeal against the decision," sources close to the skipper said.
Ganguly decided to prefer an appeal against the ban given by match referee Chris Broad after a lengthy meeting with former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya during the day.
Ganguly headed straight for Dalmiya's business office after he flew in to Kolkata on Wednesday afternoon.
Sources close to Dalmiya said that efforts were on to rope in former West Bengal chief minister and legal luminary SS Ray as Ganguly's counsel.
Ray had successfully defended Ganguly in November in an appeal after the cricketer had been served a two-Test ban by ICC match referee Clive Lloyd for the Indian team's slow over rate in the BCCI platinum jubilee match against Pakistan.
"Ganguly will file the appeal today itself. We are yet to receive any official communication from the ICC. But the fax is expected any time," sources close to the cricketer said.
Ganguly's legal team would argue that under clause CI for slow over rate, no one could be punished with a ban for Level 2 and 3 offences.
"This was our main legal premise in November along with some additional points. We intend to follow the same course this time also," they said.
The Indian skipper was banned after his team was found guilty of slow over rate for the second successive match prompting the match referee to book him for Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct.
As per the provisions of the clause, the penalty could be a ban between two to four Test matches and four to eight one-dayers.
Ganguly has been penalised 70 per cent of his match fee for a Level 2 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct after his side committed the same offence in the previous one-day match against Pakistan at Jamshedpur.
As per the ICC Code, any repetition of any particular Level 2 breach within a 12 month period automatically made it a Level 3 offence.
