Ganguly to challenge ?illegal? ban

This is the second time in five months that Ganguly has gone for an appeal against the match referee's decision.

Runs or ruins, Sourav Ganguly can't be ignored. The India captain remained the centre of attention on Wednesday even though he assiduously avoided most of it, chalking out a plan to counter the six-match ban slapped on him for slow over rate by the Indian team in the ODI series against Pakistan.

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It also became clear once again as to who calls the shots irrespective of positions in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). From the airport, the captain in distress headed for the Shakespeare Sarani office of Jagmohan Dalmiya. The gameplan was finalised after a two-hour meeting featuring the wily tactician, legal experts and the player.

It was decided that Ganguly would appeal against the ban. There is no question of pleading for a reduction as the brains behind it thought it worthwhile instead to question the legitimacy of the verdict handed out by match referee Chris Broad.

Like the successful appeal against the two-Test suspension imposed on Ganguly by Clive Lloyd for a similar reason in November last year, former Bengal CM and heavyweight lawyer Siddhartha Shankar Ray will bat for the captain once again, with BCCI lawyer U N Banerjee. "We had a conference today and I have accepted the case. It's a good case," Ray told HT.

Ganguly was docked 70 per cent of his match fees for slow over rate in Jamshedpur. It was a Level II offence according to the ICC Code of Conduct and became a Level III offence after a repeat in Ahmedabad.

The skipper may not be in form but the team defending him will be on the front foot. "The decision to suspend him is contrary to the ICC code and illegal," said a source.

The BCCI is standing by the player., who filed his 11-page appeal tonight.