 Former
India captain Sourav Ganguly is said to have so far paid
around $50,000 for breach of the official code of conduct
during his cricket career.
The Sunday Telegraph, on its website, claimed that in a
15-month period in 2004-05, Ganguly committed five breaches
of the International Cricket Council (ICC) code while the
Indian team as a unit has been the worst offender of the
current nine Test-plying teams.
'Former captain Sourav Ganguly is the game's undisputed
problem child, being hauled over the coals by cricket's
governing body a record 12 times in his international career,'
wrote the paper.
'Overall, Indian players have been charged for 43 infringements
since 1997, for offences including intimidating umpires,
abusing rival players, ball tampering, time wasting and
widespread dissent.'
It must be noted here that Indians have quite often ended
on the wrong of the law because, as Ganguly and other players
have said over the years, that ICC referees from other countries
have unfairly targeted Indians regularly.
Another reason could be the language barrier due to which
they could not defend themselves in English, the language
used by ICC referees from England, Australia, England, South
Africa and the West Indies during the hearings following
complaints by umpires and at times referees.
While Indians have been penalised regularly, referees have
often let foreign players go scot-free. A few years ago,
former Australia batsman Michael Slater shouted at Rahul
Dravid centimetres from his face with a ball in his hand
after Indian umpire S. Venkatraghavan had turned down an
appeal.
Slater was allowed to go scot-free after and Venkatraghavan,
known for being tough, did not apparently report the incident
to the referee.
Courtesy
- INDIA NEWS/ SNNI |