IPL hall of shame

1. Sreesanth crying like a baby after being hit by Harbhajan. He was reprimanded.
2. Harbhajan hitting Sreesanth. Banned for 11 IPL matches
3. Ganguly, appealing to the umpire for a catch taken by Greame Smith
4. Shane Warne criticizing Ganguly for being late to the crease and appealing against a clean catch. Fined 10% match fee.
5. Umpire Amish Saheba criticizing Sreesanth’s on-field behavior in a interview. Suspended for 2 matches.
6. Ishant Sharma hitting the stump in disgust. Fine 10% match fee.
7. Umpire GM Pratap Kumar suspended for one match for not referring to the on-field umpire in the Ganguly episode.
8. Lalchand Rajput, Mumbai Indians coach was standing behind Harbhajan when he slapped Sreesanth. He did nothing about it. He was fined 50% of his match fee. 

Video : Warne vs Ganguly, the whole episode

The whole episode with the Greame Smith catch and Ganguly’s wicket.
 
 

Video : Warne lambasts Ganguly

Warne is really on fire. I have seen this on tv several times. They are going to run this untill the next controversy arrives. Until then watch this. There was a Ganguly response too, which was on the phone. I did not get that. But, Ganguly wants to laugh at Warne and says that Warne should look back at his career.

 

 

Ganguly, Warne and the umpire fined

Its raining fines in IPL. Yesterday’s match between Rajastan Royals vs Knight Riders resulted in yet another controversy. Shane Warne was displeased with Saurav’s behavior. Saurav laughed at Shane Warne saying that he is no saint. In the middle of all this IPL is making money. You might ask how. Simple. IPL fined Saurav Gangaly, Shane Warne and the umpire GM Pratap Kumar. Reasons :

1. Saurav Ganguly was fined for showing dissent on-field
2. Shane Warne was fined for criticizing officials in public.
3. GM Pratap Kumar was fined for not referring to the on-field umpire Rudy Kurtzen and referring the third umpire directly. He was suspended for one match.

All three of them were fined 10% of their match fee. That would be $7800 from Ganguly and $3200 from Shane Warne. I am not sure how much the umpires make.

Ganguly did not play the game in the right spirit : Warne

Shane Warne, Rajastan Royals skipper accused Saurav Ganguly of not playing the game in the right spirit. This happened in their match between Knight Riders and Rajastan Royals, which is won by Rajastan Royals by 45 runs. Warne accused Ganguly on two accounts :

1. Saurav Ganguly, did not come to the crease on time and Royals were waiting in the scorching sun for Saurav. Warne checked with umpire Rudy Kurtzen to see what the delay is but he does not have any clue. Then Warne walked up to Ganguly and said this “Mate, this is not about you, it is about the cricket. Lets start the game on time”. He recalls the spirt of cricket agreement which all captains signed in Bangalore on 18th April. Each side would take 1 hour 20 minutes to finish 20 overs.
2. Saurav Ganguly hit a ball from Yusuf Pathan to the deep. Greame Smith came running and dived to the front to take the catch. Smith claimed the catch. Everybody is ecstatic except Saurav. He appealed to the umpire quite animately to refer the catch to the third umpire. The umpire was GM Pratap Kumar. He succumbed to the pressure and refered it to the third umpire. Third umpire, much to the dismay of Shane Warne and Greame Smith, ruled it in favor of the batsman. Catch looked clean to me. Warne’s accusation is Ganguly should take the word of Greame Smith who is a renowned captain of South Africa, and also he has no right to pressure the umpire to go for third umpire.

Other pertinent questions : 

1. Why did the Indian umpire GM Pratap Kumar refer to third umpire?
2. Why did the third umpire gave the decision in favor of Ganguly?

Now, my concern: Is IPL a comeback saga for whatever happened in Australia and to turn the heat back on India about the spirit of the game? First, we have the Harbhajan episode which gave a glimpse to the world and also lost India’s credibility in defending Harbhajan over the years. Now, this Ganguly episode where our spirit of game is questioned.

Whatever might be the case, it does not augur well for Indian cricket. Ganguly, an experienced cricketer should have been better informed.

Harbhajan slapped with a 11 match ban in IPL for slapping Sreesanth

The hearing of IPL commitee has decided a 11 match ban on Harbhajan Singh for slapping Sreesanth. Harbhajan has pleaded guilty about the charges and accepted that he has slapped Sreesanth and also apologized him. This is the decision for IPL matches. His fate still hangs as far as playing for India is concerned. BCCI has appointed a seperate commitee to probe the incident and decision will be taken later.

Harbhajan will miss the whole of IPL. If his team qualifies for final he can play in it. This seems highly unlikely on two accounts:

1. Mumbai Indians do not look like then can make it to the semi-finals
2. Reliance management is already unhappy with Harbhajan and he might be replaced never to return back.

Sreesanth should refrain from on-field antics and has been let off with a warning.

Look beyond footage : Dhoni

Dhoni, wants the board to look beyond footage. It is not that what Harbhajan did was not wrong, it is that he might be provoked by Sreesanth. He has cited the example of famous headbutt by Zidane in the previous soccer world cup. Maybe, this is something to think about.

Harbhajan’s hearing is today. He will be accompanied by Harsha Bhogle and Sreesanth will be  accompanied by Neil Maxwell (Punjab CEO) and Yuvraj Singh.

Bhajji might face a life ban

The ban can be for any of the following. He is charged under ICC code of conduct level 4.

1. 10 IPL matches ( lot of money at stake)
2. 10 one-day international (Bhajji would take this)
3. 5 test matches (not exciting, but he might take this too)
4. Life ban. (Seriously, this would be the kiss of death. He would think twice to even slap a mosquito after this.)

This suspense remains untill tomorrow. Hearing of Bhajji case is tomorrow April 28th, 2008 in New Delhi. Bhajji will be given a fair trial.

Things doesn’t look too bright for the off-spinner.

Harbhajan likely to face 10 match ban from IPL : BCCI

That would mean he will miss the most of the IPL and if Mumbai Indians make it to the semi-final he might play that match. That looks highly unlikely as he was already replaced. This augurs well for cricket as a whole. You can fool some people for as much time but not for long. Harbhajan will pay the price and its going to be a handsome amount. He was auctioned by the Reliance Industries led Mumbai Indians team for $850,000.

Sreesanth, on the other hand is guilty as charged. Apparently, he is not a holy cow. He provoked Bhajji and found what he was looking for. BCCI, his employer will reprimand him. I think he should be banned for atleast 3 matches. I am not sure if he has violated any code of conduct but he cried like a baby. That should attract a 3 match ban as per me.

Australian media took this opportunity and bounced right back. They are having a feast. Harbhajan is going to be a toast for them for atleast a week. So will Sreesanth. Imaging the next tour of India to Australia. If selected, Harbhajan and Sreesanth might find it very tough to even survive. Harbhajan is tough guy and he can handle it. But, What about the baby?

I guess, Sreesanth’s mother will accompany him to tour Australia.

Why wasn’t Harbhajan banned for life or for 5 years?

Video : Sreesanth crying like a baby

This is the youtube link for Sreesanth’s crying episode after Kings XI Punjab won the match against Mumbai Indians. I could not get the actual slapping incident. Here you can see, Harbhajan shaking his hand with Lalit Modi and then approached by Yuvraj in Number 12 incident. Harbhajan looks like he is already charged. This might be after the incident has happened.

I think the incident happened between Preity Zinta hugging Brett Lee and Harbhajan shaking hands with Lalid Modi.